Review Summary: A unique album for a unique band with plenty of great songs like Stitches and Blue Monday, but most of the songs sound alike; and it has some very bad production.
Orgy is possibly the only band I have heard that can fuse industrial, metal, and electronica into a highly successful band.
Candyass is not a highly successful album by any stretch of imagination, but songs like
Blue Monday and
Stitches managed to shake up industrial and metal music. Even though Orgy's main hit off of
Candyass is a cover of New Order,
Blue Monday, don't even think about looking it over. Every song on this album is above average. It's a wild ride. It's a unique ride that only the band Orgy can take you on. So, why did I give it only a 3?
Candyass's production may be some of the worst I've heard. It's not lo-fi, it's fuzzy. Orgy is a loud, angry band, and the second the decibel meter on this album gets loud, the sound becomes a mess of fuzz and white noise. The songs are unidentifiable for the most part and seem to blend together well. It's as if they use the same chords and techniques in each song. But there isn't much wrong with their sound; it manages to create a unique, dystopian atmosphere that just feels as if you should be sitting in a pure white room dressed like a person on a sci-fi show.
That's what Orgy is; a sci-fi band. From their strange outfits and sci-fi theming in the video for
Stitches to the future release
Vapor Transmission; Orgy oozes of science fiction. Even though I'm not a sci-fi guy, that's not a bad thing, because
Social Enemies, the opener off of this album, sounds like a song from a whacked-out alien movie with it's heavy metal-influenced synthesizers, loud guitar distortions, and drum beat. Gordon's vocals in the chorus just rock your speakers as he reaches from the depths of his voice; and this song flows nicely into the anthem of
Candyass,
Stitches. This song breaks the barrier of catchiness; once you listen to it you'll sing it all day long and irritate anyone you know or hang around with daily. The song's lyrics are surprisingly dark, and abstract at the same time. The song is the brighest, up-tempo song on
Candyass by far; the keyboards and synthesizers create a bright, futuristic atmosphere that won't go away the more you listen to the song.
Dissention is where
Candyass's poor production really shines a blemish on this album; the verse is filled with fuzzy guitars and Gordon's voice breaking up as he hits higher notes; the chorus is surprisingly catchy but the bass beats blow your speakers every time you listen to them. This song is very spaced-out; it's about a mind-reading device. Interesting.
Fetisha is a metal anthem filled with catchy hooks and some strong guitars. Gordon's simple yet memorable vocals ring throughout your ears up until you can get up to the average
Fiend which is a bit more boring, and isn't as catchy as Orgy is on the rest of this album. The instruments are surprisingly immature, and there's just not enough to keep it from being better than average.
Pantomine is a disturbing song about kidnapping and raping a girl, featuring weird, outer space noises; heavier guitars, and louder drums. Gordon's vocals are surprisingly different than the rest of the album, but the lyrics are dark and worse than any song written by R.E.M.
Revival revives the album with Jay Gordon basically talking in the verses, and a cool, noisy chorus that sticks in my head; it features plenty of the odd noises Orgy are known for, while sounding about as normal as Orgy gets.
Weird thing about Orgy is that the songs they consider to be slower are still loud, and the angrier, faster songs of most other bands.
Platinum is surprisingly melodic, featuring Jay Gordon's vocals at a sprawling pace in the chorus with fuzzy, noisy guitars in the verses. It's easily the most memorable song on
Candyass, but is not even close to the greatness that
Blue Monday is.
Blue Monday is the best cover ever. The original isn't that good in the first place, but Orgy manages to cut out the long keyboard solos and fuse in the harder, metal with the tempo-driven melodic chorus. The song is just as catchy as if it were Orgy's own; and is by far the best on
Candyass.
If you've noticed by now, I haven't hit all of
Candyass's songs; it's because they aren't diverse enough; if I did a song by song, it'd be the same words repeated over and over again. All of the songs are listenable and enjoyable; but a lot aren't memorable. There's more problems though; like I said the production is pitiful as well.
Vapor Transmission is a much better, diverse album, that shows their maturity in their sophomore attempt. But let's clear something up; stay as far away from their last release,
Punk Statik Paranoia as possible.
