Orden Ogan
Gunmen

Chapter I - The Massacre of the Ogan and the Breasts of a Friend of Mine

This is a strange band. I mean, what kind of name is Orden Ogan? It sounds awful. How can one listen to Orden Ogan? I even looked it up, it means "order of fear." So? Nothing, but I needed to vent to someone. Why am I writing about them instead of listening to Mastodon? Here's how things went... I was discussing with a friend of mine at the end of one of their concerts. I said to him, while I got distracted by the breasts of a girl: "they're big the...ogan," he said 'this band isn't bad,' I, 'the breasts aren't bad, the band sucks, power from the toilet,' he, 'let's go grab a drink,' I 'first I go to the bathroom'... On the way back we bet on that girl's breasts. I lost, my friend left with the girl with the breasts, while I... I'm doing the review of the new Ogan. Not a great start, but despite the band's name and the breasts, it didn't turn out so badly.

Chapter II - Overrated, power (not)

I look around cautiously on the web and beyond, it's said that Orden Ogan are overrated. Oh, the international critics don't understand anything. Just because they're German. They play power. Derivative. Blind Guardian. The usual stuff we've already heard. The premises for a good roast are all there. There's nothing more enjoyable than roasting (for me). Let's proceed in order, friends (rubbing my hands).

Chapter III - The Gunmen (review)

Overrated, but not power. As far as I'm concerned, I honestly don't care and I can't be bothered to read everything in English... but power... power though, no. Not that they haven't been, eh. Take "To the End" from 2012. There, they mainly played power, but the rest of the discography, well. To cut it short, "Gunmen", is a very pompous album, but it's pompous in a strange way, in their way. The unusual thing is that power is just one of the influences, but most of this album is built in the heavy progressive genre. However, trying to be a bit clearer... the singer's deep voice is solemn and makes a great impression when it dives into those choruses that are a step between a pagan mass and some gospel high as kites in a cave in Mali. Okay, but they are Blind Guardian. Sometimes, but I wouldn't compare them, at least not for the choruses, maybe in the use of the solo guitars with those runs in the melodies, there they remind me a bit. Running Wild are in there. Listen to the first track 'Gunman', trumpet calls and then we ride in Rolf and company's guitars. They take a bit here and there. They are thieves as much as Tarantino is with Bava, Fulci, Leone, and all those cool people (who made movies big time). But if you put it all together. The drums with the death blasts. The lyrics that tell of lost souls, death, and mystical inner things. Either you're watching a Refn movie or you're listening to 'Ashen Rain'... In the end, that stuff becomes yours and only yours. Then you might not like it, but the Ogan are now not just breasts. Just to say, listen to how well this text sounds…

"We missed the moment when our life came asunder, baby open your eyes
Inside the error, witness of the final blunder, under a black sky
And still you sing with the rain so low"

Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann, the creative mind and leader of Orden Ogan, knows well how to use words to create the right atmosphere, to make us feel at one with his music. So he babbles about “black sky”, “rain”, “end”… and then there's that "we" that catapults us into the scene and at the same time becomes a universal reference.
Yes, but how many times do they repeat themselves? The first listens were complicated. I wasn't really in the right mood and these guys kept obsessively repeating the chorus. That's enough, you guys have broken my balls! I go for a walk when, while I'm raiding a snack dispenser, that damn chorus arrogantly forces its way into my head (not before I knocked down an excellent chocolate bar). Oh well.

"One last chance - Before they will bring back the night
One last chance in the light
They'll bring back the night forevermore"

They get inside you and find it hard to get out. It's not that they do complicated things to counterbalance those choruses, but the arrangements do what they have to and everything works as it should. A track I recommend is right at the end, "Finis Coronat Opus" (anyway, they are all good). A finale that's spot-on and also with breasts, just to stay on topic. Is this "Gunmen" a masterpiece? I don't know... rather give it a listen, especially if you don't like overrated power.

Me, "So how did it go with the girl?" him, "...not bad, but you know I was thinking about you and the Ogan..." me, "...bastard"