Orchid - Through The Devil's Doorway (2009, CDS) RESTORED RESTORED

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Orchid - Through The Devil's Doorway (2009, CDS) RESTORED RESTORED

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Described as 70`s occult rock from San Fransisco and more Sabbath than Sabbath, Orchid has released one of the catchiest debut releases in the last 10 years. Released on Church Within Records, this is a easily accessible classic rock meets stoner doom masterpiece that hasn't left the my CD player since i picked this baby up. A lot of bands play this style but not many have mastered the sound as much as Orchid have, one listen to the opening track "Into The Sun" and you are instantly hooked by the abundant grooves this band has. The obvious Sabbath sound and technique is there but Orchid actually manage to make sound fresh again. Its hard to beat the timeless grooves of classic 70's rock and "Into The Sun" has it all. The vocals of Theo Mindell have all the finesse of a 70's front-man rock god, a perfectly pitched voice indeed and the guitar crunch is in the mix just where it should be. The guitar sound is also pure 70's, its not really that heavy but has that timeless quality tone that the 70's rock masters had. Yes, there is endless number of musical cliches that could be inserted into this review and its real tempting to do just that but Orchid deserve to stand out on their own. The main feature of the band is the quality songwriting, these dudes know how to put together a good tune. Something that has been lost to a large extent with a lot of modern bands. "Eastern Woman" which the second tune is equally as catchy as the opener, more Sabbathian grooves but this time with a more Pentagram vibe. Mark Thomas Baker puts in a killer solo on this song along with the chugging rhythm, once again the arrangement focuses on being concise and catchy.

"Son of Misery" gets into gear with a cool bass intro before the blues-based riff comes in. This one reminds me a lot of Australia's 70's legends "Buffalo", the song has a excellent building arrangement that grabs your attention and keeps it there. The other track on the EP is the monumental "No One Makes a Sound", my personal favorite track on the EP. More great vocals are on display and this track has a kind of layed-back kind of groove especially at 2 and a half minutes into the track where the mood is taking down a notch. The bass playing of Nickel and the drumming of Carter Kennedy is particularly strong on this track, locking into a swaggering groove and never letting go. The last 2 minutes of this number is just pure 70's rock magic, enough for the old school headbanger in all of us to come out our collective shells. While people are still creaming themselves over other 70's retro bands like Witchcraft, Graveyard and many others, Orchid to my ears do it better with a sound that is not just a throwback to the days of flares and hippie cliches, this is a attempt to create a 70's sounding band but make it sound it fresh all over and again. They have done just that, i just wish this EP was longer. All i can say is, check "Through The Devils Doorway" out and bring out a full length album as soon as possible.

~ 8.5/10 by www.doommantia.com