Orbit

Craft of Unknown Origin

CRAFT OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN's "Orbit" sounds like a bootleg of a 80's Glam Metal band […]
By Te Hao Boon
July 6, 2015
Craft of Unknown Origin - Orbit album cover

CRAFT OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN's "Orbit" sounds like a bootleg of a 80's Glam Metal band you have never heard of. You find it in a yard sale and pop it in your cassette deck and something dated comes out of your speakers. You enjoy it for a couple of moments and you take it out of your deck, never to hear it again for years until you see it lying around when you are cleaning your room.

This album contains mainly repeats after repeats. This method will work for certain songs but for others it proved to be a bad formula. Certain tracks feel like a band practising a segment of a song multiple times and when they are finally happy with the results they move to the next segment. This makes all of the songs sound much longer than it should be.

The album begins with "Tiny Happy Critters", something that sounds like an opening soundtrack to a Sega Genesis game. Again with the idea of repeats, it makes you feel as though you went to the toilet after turning your Genesis on and the theme song just goes on loop forever. There is very little progression and I couldn't wait to hit start on the controller, only to realize it is just how the song goes. The song ends with an uninspiring fade off, almost to say "We would like this whole album to be just this song on repeat but I guess we have to play the next song now."

The song "Carnival of the Odd Legged Giants" is my favourite in this EP, there were some interesting effects used for the guitar, giving it an exotic vibe. The drum fills were pretty interesting at times too, I particularly like the tom rolls at the 2 minute mark. For this song, repetition was not overdone, they knew when to move to the next movement in the song. However, production of this song can be pretty lacklustre. The double bass was absurdly miniscule in this track.

"A World Within a Snowflake" gives off a Jazz fusion vibe, the drums here was the best out of the whole EP, they complemented the track well but does not overpower the guitars. The track ended beautifully with an ice-cold vibe, complementing the track title.

The album ended with what sounds like a happy SLAYER tribute. At points I can see how this track can become a banger, but the whole album just feels like a big smiley face throughout. It would have been great if the album ended with a mosh-worthy track but I was presented with a mild push at best in the pit. Generally, it feels like the band wants to put a Metal edge to their Hard Rock sound. While I appreciate the effort, I was often underwhelmed by the results produced.

3 / 10

Hopeless

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"Orbit" Track-listing:

1. Tiny Happy Critters
2. Carnival of the Odd Legged Giant
3. A World Within a Snowflake
4. Chasing the Trickster

Craft of Unknown Origin Lineup:

Meeks - Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Drums Programming

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