Review Summary: Orgy are a flower that never fully bloomed.
We've all come across one at some point: a band that shows a certain amount of promise; a unique characteristic buried in a sound that isn't fully developed or realised yet. Some bands manage to tap into what will make them a success in the future, others just never seem to get past making the same mistakes. Orgy is one such band. Formed in 1994, and subsequently signed by Korn's Jonathan Davis, they went on to write their 1998 debut
Candyass and follow-up
Vapor Transmission; both showing a fair amount of potential, but neither album ever quite managed to knock it out of the park. Any promise the band once had dissipated when they released the awful
Punk Statik Paranoia. The band dissolved soon after, until 2010 when they had a reunion tour. They've released material since, but have never reached the same level of promise that they once had.
Orgy's debut is a collection of industrial rock and metal, but as
Candyass came out in the late 90s, during NU-metal's commercial peak, the genre had a lasting impression on the band's songwriting for the album.
Candyass's biggest praise comes from its consistently dark, ominous atmosphere, that was created by effects and fuzzed out guitars, as well as a synthesiser heavy sound that build around the core foundations; the band's overall aesthetics have a distinct odour of Cyberpunk, making it feel very robotic. The instrumentation walks the line of being chaotic and occasionally self-aware; imagine Linkin Park on acid. "Stitches", "Pantomime" and "Platinum" are three songs that bring all the right ideas to the table, the atmosphere is there, the melodies are nice and the songwriting is tight. One of the band's biggest songs, the cover to New Order's "Blue Monday", is still as fun to listen to as it was then, and is the easiest track to get into; while the bulk of "Gender" and "All The Same" have that grooving industrial hallmark. "Revival" is one of the best tracks on here and has the cheeky inclusion of Jonathan Davis providing guest vocals for the chorus, and brings a much needed surge of life to the LP near the end.
Candyass is far from perfect though, and the album does have some low points that range from off-the-rails unpleasant, boring, to just plain awkward. The LP's opener "Social Enemies" starts off well, but its awkward transitions and lacklustre riffs leave you disconnected from the song long before the halfway mark. This is partially down to Jay Gordon's vocals; they can just about hold their weight for the duration of the LP, but the lack of interesting melodies and repetitious lyrics mean the bulk of the album becomes banal, leaving you to zone out from time-to-time. Orgy also struggle at finding decent transitions to songs: the likes of "Fetisha" and "Fiend" shift into different parts of songs that end up making the tracks in question deflate and lose energy that was created from their opening riffs. It's a solid listen overall;
Vapor Transmission marginally crafts better songs compared to this, but even though it has a lot of low points, it has more good things going for it that justify giving it a listen if you're a fan of this type of music.
Good.
Edition: M̶P̶3̶, CD
Packaging: Standard Jewel Case
Special Edition: N/A
