{"id":54993,"date":"2017-06-22T07:23:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T12:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=54993"},"modified":"2017-06-22T07:23:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T12:23:34","slug":"orden-ogan-gunmen-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/orden-ogan-gunmen-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Orden Ogan | Gunmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Franco Cerchiari<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Gorgeous, dramatic, melodic, galloping, loud, bombastic, and ripe with the sounds of Power, Celtic, Progressive, Folk and Heavy Metal is Orden Ogan\u2019s latest, Gunmen<\/em>, released under the AFM Records label. And oh my god is this one astonishing release. From the moment the refrains of the opening title track come within earshot is an instant reach for the volume knob made and what happened next is everything that is great about this incredible band all comes together in one swirling tidal wave of music. The towering vocals, the structure of the songs, the chord progressions and the bridge going from the verses into the choruses swells, and perfectly does it all come together, then it is just best to forget about all, and let Orden Ogan take you away on a journey of music and sound. <\/p>\n

Formed in Germany in 1996, and originally going by the moniker Tanzende Aingewaide, it was in 1997 the band changed their name to Orden Ogan (German, Celtic for Order of Fear,) Gunmen<\/em> is an absolute must have for fans of Blind Guardian, Vexillium, Evertale, Solar Fragment, and Falconer. But let\u2019s get back to the music for all the similarities to other bands, images of soaring vocals, and flowery imagery of \u201cmusical tidal waves\u201d and \u201cjourneys of music and sound\u201d don\u2019t mean a damn thing if a release can\u2019t stand on its own merit. <\/p>\n

At its core Gunmen is seemingly simple in its delivery, for it is everything that Power Metal is supposed to be, but \u2026 a careful listen to the core of the songs and one hears imaginative music structures and songwriting that is truly complex and masterfully difficult. Keyboards and guitars when not front and center providing a solo, sit back, but are never idle, rather they fill in beautifully, and wind their way in and around the vocals while at the same time the rhythm section of bass guitar and drums do an incredible job of giving these songs a true bottom end. Lyrics tell stories of heroes; being alone, battles fought, sins and the sinners begging for forgiveness and freedom. <\/p>\n

Listen to the glorious keyboards of the opening title track, the majestic guitars, heaven sent keyboards, extravagant vibe, imperial feel, and loud drums of the CD highlight, \u201cFields of Sorrow,\u201d and the mix of Folk and Power on the heavy \u201cVampire In Ghost Town.\u201d \u201cCome With Me To The Other Side,\u201d featuring the gorgeous Liv Kristine (Theatre of Tragedy, Leaves\u2019 Eyes, Eluveitie,) starts beautifully enough but quickly explodes into a monster of a galloping Power Metal outing. Also worth a definite listen was the ghostly, eerie \u201cThe Face of Silence,\u201d the regal \u201cAshen Rain,\u201d the fury and magnificence of \u201cOne Last Chance,\u201d and closing this amazing release is the almost 9-minute head nodding, simply killer drums and guitars of \u201cFinis Coronat Opus.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yeah, all over Gunmen<\/em>, the boys of Orden Ogan prove time and again that they are at their artistic peak. Not a single song out of place, for put together, listening to this release tells the story of a group of warriors and brave men fighting for what it is they believe in. And for the knowing, a disgust, and hatred for radio becomes even more intense, for when such a band as Orden Ogan puts out a collection of songs like that which was heard on here, a middle finger is pointed squarely at radio wondering why it is that they refuse to give music like this a spin. Certainly, the bands deserve it, but way past that so do the fans of the Power Metal, for it just isn\u2019t fair that Orden Ogan (and so many bands like them) aren\u2019t given the radio time they deserve. For when it comes right down to it, isn\u2019t that the reason that radio exists, to begin with, and that is to open bands up to a wider audience? In any event, listen to Gunmen, revel in its music and agree when it is said \u2013 this really is one amazing CD. <\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal, Folk Metal, Heavy Metal<\/p>\n

Band Members:
\nSebastian \u201cSeeb\u201d Levermann \u2013 guitars, vocals, keyboards
\nTobi – guitars
\nNiels Loffler \u2013 bass
\nDirk Meyer-Berhorn \u2013 drums<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Gunmen
\n2. Fields of Sorrow
\n3. Forlorn and Forsaken
\n4. Vampire in Ghost Town
\n5. Come With Me To The Other Side
\n6. The Face of Silence
\n7. Down Here
\n8. Ashen Rain
\n9. One Last Chance
\n10. Finis Coronat Opus<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Web: www.ordenogan.de<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 9 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Franco Cerchiari – Senior Columnist — Gorgeous, dramatic, melodic, galloping, loud, bombastic, and ripe with the sounds of Power, Celtic, Progressive, Folk and Heavy Metal is Orden Ogan\u2019s latest, Gunmen, released under the AFM […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":54995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[8645,2942,13411,2491,12354,10904,1097],"class_list":{"0":"post-54993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-folk-metal","10":"tag-gunmen","11":"tag-heavy-metal","12":"tag-music-review","13":"tag-orden-ogan","14":"tag-power-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}