ORECUS is a death metal band from Stockholm, Sweden who formed in 2011. Their latest release, “Dreadnought” is their second full-length album, in addition to having also released an EP and a demo. I wanted to like this album a lot more than I actually did. While it isn’t a bad album by any means, it just never really grabbed me. The ingredients are there: groove-laden riffs, melodic when needed, a solid rhythm section and intense vocals. The main issue is that it is a very modern release, both in terms of production and the songwriting. The production is slick as hell with a presentation that contains all the bells and whistles needed. Unfortunately, I think it takes a lot of intensity off the album while definitely keeping the low end a bit too quiet for my tastes. As for the songs, I'm hearing some deathcore influences, which is fine, but it makes the songs seem unbalanced at times, as if the band can't decide if they want to play straight up death metal or deathcore.

That isn’t to say there aren’t any good elements. To be honest, every song is solid–but, just like the album as a whole, nothing really stands out. It checks off the death metal boxes so well that it never really establishes an identity beyond the genre norms. One of the highlights is all the guests: Bjorn “Speed” Stride (SOILWORK), Kevin McCaughey (ION DISSONANCE), Joe McGlynn (MAN MUST DIE), Filip Danielsson (HUMANITY’s LAST BREATH), and Peter Wichers (ex-SOILWORK), all lend a helping hand. They all do a great job, even if the song themselves aren’t all that interesting.

The album opens with “All Traitors Bleed The Same,” with blazing drums and crunchy riffs. The song is a strong representation of the album’s direction so if you like this one you’ll either like the rest of the album or realize that nothing much else really happens afterwards. The song itself is just brutal enough without killing its atmosphere. “Dark Matter,” uses Peter Wichers to the fullest, with an absolution barn burner of a guitar solo. It begins melodic, not unlike something he might have done with SOILWORK, but gets more intricate as it goes along. The rest of the song isn’t quite as ear-catching but it’s serviceable, especially the drumming during the solo.

Wichers’ former bandmate Bjorn “Speed” Stride, brings both His endless energy and unmistakable voice to the song. It definitely boosts it up and pairs well with the band’s actual vocalist. But again, sadly, the song itself didn’t do much for me. Likewise, Kevin McCaughey does a fantastic job on the next song, “Fuming.” You can see where I am going with this—the energy is there, the passion is there, but the songwriting is just middle of the road. All in all, ORECUS’ “Dreadnought” is a fun album that is worth a few listens but it just didn’t stay with me for very long. It has been a banner year for death metal so with 2024 already delivering many great albums, it just doesn’t stand out enough to me personally.