Orgia Daemonicum is a somewhat different beast than the previous Thou Art Lord albums, in not necessarily for a change in genre, then for the slightly more organic production aesthetics. They use this punchy, springy guitar tone here that gives the album more of a black/thrash aesthetic than the more blustering, symphonic theatrics of Eosforos or Apollyon. Strangely enough, this is also the album that reminds me of Sakis Tolis' other, more prominent band, Rotting Christ. If you took Rotting Christ and condensed them into a more thuggish, thrashing beast, it might turn out quite like what I'm hearing on this.
Not that the little eccentricities of this duo's past have entirely abandoned their modus operandi, but they all feel more subdued, like subtle guitars layered in for ambiance in straight, chugging black thrashers like "An Apparition of Vengeance". There are a number of the tracks that use a lot of the familiar Rotting Christ counter-melodies off the straight, hammering rhythm guitar, such as "Hecate Unveiled", "Necromantic", "The Gnostic Code". But the Greeks also branch out a bit, with a slower, ritual chuggernaut in "The Royal Invocation of Apophis" or some straight shots of eerie melodic death in the title track. At best, though, the band will break into this great, ripping thrash riff reminiscent of Slayer ("He, the Great Worm") and really bind together the wider dynamic range into a fit of sheer headbanging rage.
Almost as if to mirror their stylistic deviation here, they include a cover of Onslaught's "Power from Hell", off the album of the same name. Actually sounds quite good with Magus Wampyr's charismastic gutturals, and once more I have to point out that I love the guitar tone, not to mention the inflections of atmosphere they hurl under the riffs with some synthesizer/choirs. This all helps top off what I might consider the most 'fun' of Thou Art Lord's efforts, even if I enjoy the music from all its predecessors more. It's clear that the band did not wish to merely repeat itself, and so the change is welcome, but there's just not much food for thought here. Tense, coiled fists to the face without catchy enough notation to resonate for long.
Verdict: Win [7/10] (exploding, decompressed)
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