ORGY Vapor Transmission
CD review

It's never a good move for a band to release a cover as a single, especially if they do a really good job. From that day forth they will forever be know as 'that band that did ' and never taken completely seriously as a proper band.

Orgy could very easily have fallen into this trap with 1998's release of 'Blue Monday', fortunately for them they reached the majority of America's Nu-Metal community by joining Korn and other's on the Family Values tour. They also knocked out an impressive follow up single with 'Stitches' and an equally impressive debut album 'Candyass' on Korn's Elementree label.

Their follow up album, Vapor Transmission, follows Candyass in the similar vein. It certainly is difficult to take Orgy seriously; they have the appearance of a manufactured performance art band, and you couldn't believe that they came up with those costumes and hairstyles themselves. Also their records are so overproduced it makes you wonder if they were ever written in somebody's garage.

However, Orgy certainly make a lasting impression; be it visually or audibly Orgy want to come from the future with their electronic fusion and PVC zip-up boiler suits. It would be more accurate to suggest they are time travellers from the early 80s. After listening to The Human League and various American New Wave bands far too much they've discovered Nu Metal guitars and combined the two to set themselves apart from the rest of the 90s US Metal onslaught.

There can be no doubt that Orgy are influenced strongly by the 80s, not that this is a bad thing, with everyone trying to go retro lately, it's refreshing to see a band do it well, combining the electro-synth melodies and rhythms from the 80s with 90s distortion, angst and riffs. Vocalist Jay Gordon certainly brings the 80s back sounding like a cross between Phil Oakley and every other singer from New Wave bands you've never heard of that featured in Friday the 13th movies.

The album carries a very near future, Blade Runner-esque feeling all the way through, from the packaging to the final track. Opening track 'Vapour Transmission (intro)' is merely an exchange of commands between a female and male computer and is a great introduction to the overall feeling you're about to experience from the rest of the album.

From that Orgy burst into 'Suckerface', a fairly basic song that is given a lift from the heavy, crunching bass line, electro backing and screaming lead guitar being pushed through a variety of distortion, flanger and digital delay pedals that feature throughout most of the album, giving Orgy their own unique sound.

The album carried some great songs with a lot of power and fusion, but also catchy tunes that bring a certain degree of emotion such as 'Opticon' whose thumping 2-2 anathematic drumming and crunching guitars is a definite air-puncher; 'Fiction (Dreams In Digital)' the first single from this release and 'Eva' the most pop-structured song on the album.

Other stand out tracks include 'Eyes-Radio-Lies' which could be taken as a modern, heavier remake of an unknown Duran Duran number, and also final track 'Where's Gerrold' whose deeply cheesy but dark New Wave synth bass line towards the end of the song instantly gives it the right to feature in an 80s slasher horror film, hopefully it could appear in the forthcoming Jason X.

Vapor Transmission is a great album and offers a pleasant change from every other Nu Metal band emerging from the sewers of American at the moment. Orgy have sidestepped combining Hip-Hop with metal and taken an 80s approach instead, giving them something a bit different to work with. Not every track stands out however, but then again you wouldn't want an album full of singles would you, unless you bought a best of or a singles album of course. Tracks such as '107' and 'Dramatica' are in no way dull, but border on sounding mediocre of the Orgy sound, incorporating a dark bass-line and the odd synthesiser 'whoosh' or scream.

The album gets personal eyemachine plus points for including the lyrics in the booklet, always essential for any album or band that don't want to appear too pretentious. If you still like Depeche Mode, The Human League, Duran Duran, or you're still just an 80s kid then get this album and remember just how great the music was. With a few guitars the tunes and synths can still hold their own today.

7/10

david twomey

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