Review Summary: Orchid managed to release what's possibly their best album before breaking up.
Orchid is an Amherst, Massachusetts-based screamo band in the traditional sense of this oft-tossed around genre--dissonant, unsympathetic music with a particularly-in-this-case hardcore punk aesthetic with poetic lyrics. There are quite a few notable tracks, of which include both Amherst Pandemonium parts 1 and 2, Anais Nin By Numbers, Class Pictures, Dissidents in Love, We Love Prison, and the ambient closer Impersonating Martin Rev. The aforementioned songs contain the dissonant, cacophonous signature Orchid sound that we all (hopefully) know and love, and combines them into a beautiful sound--in a jarring sense of the word.
That’s not to say that the album isn’t without its faults--though there aren’t many, some of the impact is lost, because, as previously stated, it’s quite repetitious. Over and over Orchid displays their strident, inharmonious mastery, which isn’t a bad thing, but it is quite a bit to stomach at one point, though this is easily solved by listening to individual tracks--even though as a rule of thumb an album should not need to be listened to in sections; it’s just that Orchid has always had a problem with flowing in their musical endeavors.
Orchid managed to release what’s possibly their best album--of note are the vocals which fit the music PERFECTLY, alternating between chaotic screams and something of a throaty, clean shout, the instruments are unquestionably superb and the screamo dissonance and mastery is at its finest as it all coalesces into a beautifully harsh whole. Releasing what’s arguably the greatest release from their far-too-short career,
