Originally written by Matt Longo
The classic masters Black Sabbath released a good comeback album a few weeks ago, and it’s proven to be quite a grower. But when you’re a band who heavily invoke classic masters and your main muse releases a new album the same year as you — if not six weeks later — shining from that overcast shadow is all the more challenging. The Brummies proved up to task, but perhaps that badass British boogie can also capably channel through Orchid, a youthful quartet from the San Francisco bay.
The tone and spirit of Sabbath run rampant in both the title track and “Marching Dogs of War”, although neither are as explicit about their worship compared with later tunes. The latter actually swings more than marches, and seems about to switch into “Fairies Wear Boots” at any time. “Silent One“ borrows liberally from “Lord of This World” — particularly the main riff — and basically concerns the same subject, only Orchid focus more on the spawn of Satan rather than the Dark One himself. (Hey, didn’t I just write a review about that?) This shows how similar ingredients can yield different results when applied in different proportions. Familiar moments abound — double-tracked flurrying guitars from Mark Baker, an overpowering bass section by Keith Nickel, surprisingly fun tambourine breaks — yet are altogether distinct when finally assembled.
True, “Mountains of Steel” sports “A National Acrobat”-ish demeanor, but folks who write as well as Orchid find astonishing variety from an ostensibly limited palette. These two songs don’t sound alike on the whole, yet both contain a strong elemental equality that radiates under their divergent paths.
Still… the “Leaving It All Behind” riffage gets SO close to “After Forever” — it it on purpose? If bands choose to wear their forebears on their sleeves (or denim-clad backs), could this type of restitching be an homage? Oddly enough, the bass part of “After Forever” feels likewise lifted, but is instead deployed later in “Loving Hands of God” while the guitar takes a backseat. Then Orchid blooms into a full jam session for a short while (nothing like the Sab Four executed at the Star Club, but that’s okay) before circling back to the strangely evolving love story, with a tragically crushing conclusion.
Considering that track’s more deliberate pace, the following “Wizard of War” provides a solid counterpoint as the hardest charger on The Mouths of Madness, but whenever it plays, there feels like a verse is missing — better to leave ‘em wanting more than to overstay one’s welcome, so they say. Where Orchid best succeeds in their own right is expansive tracks like album closer “See You on the Other Side”, with its inspired and moody multi-part midsection that explodes into an emotional flurry of a finalé.
Musically, there’s some Candlemass or Trouble or Saint Vitus buried in there as well. Vocally, however, what I hear from Theo Mindell is traces of Pentagram’s Bobby Liebling. Mindell possesses greater control over a wider range — even if Bobby edges him out on desperate ferocity — with a brassy, strident delivery that still manages to be inviting. Like the Phalaenopsis which recently found a spot in my kitchen, Orchid steadily and reliably grows with relatively minimal effort, but I’d like to see them step into rarefied lady’s slipper territory.
