Country : États-Unis Label : Indépendant Genres and styles : Avant-Garde / Folk / Progressive Metal / Technical Death Metal Year : 2024

Orgone – Pleroma

· by Laurent Bellemare

To hear the violin, vibraphone, tubular bells and acoustic guitar of Pleroma‘s opening track, you’d be hard-pressed to guess the technical death metal roots of Orgone, a little-known band on the Pennsylvania scene. Yet this is indeed an extreme metal album, skillfully woven with contrasting passages ranging from the quietest to the most intense.          

What distinguishes Pleroma the most from Orgone’s previous two albums is a tendency to open the expressive valves rather than restrict them. Where once we had a mixture of dense, compact musical ideas in rapid succession; here we have a variety of passages that breathe and allow for more lyricism and ambition in the arrangements. The music is still highly progressive, but it’s more mature and takes us on a journey from cello folk ballads to the heaviness of dissonant, angular riffs. There’s only one step between distortion and acoustic instrumentation on this genre-defying hour-long odyssey. While many tracks are instrumental, there is a remarkable vocal variety that weaves an engaging narrative. In particular, male and female clean vocals, both solo and harmonized, add to the multilingual narration and the distinctive mid-range of the death grunts. With tracks ranging from 1 to 18 minutes, Pleroma covers an enormous palette of colours, reminiscent of the ambition of Harmonium, albeit much darker and more bursting, perfectly suited to our era. Surprising bursts of various chamber instruments like a trumpet, various woodwinds, double bass and even balalaika are just the cherry on top of the sundae.


All in all, the road travelled since Orgone’s debut is extraordinary. We’ve gone from a modestly interesting band, for anyone already familiar with death metal, to the maker of a real polymorphous work of art likely to convert the skeptics. It’s even more satisfying now to go back through the discography and hear the logical continuity that undoubtedly prophesied such a stylistic evolution.

Latest 360 Content

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Transforming Hiroshima mon amour into contemporary opera: Christian Lapointe and Rosa Lind tell the story

Sparks – MAD!

Sparks – MAD!

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

“Hiroshima, mon amour”: An Evening to Remember

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Peter Murphy – Silver Shade

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Ken Pomeroy – Cruel World

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Art of the Line: Klangkarussell’s Euro Vision at SAT

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Festival des Saveurs | Closing With Reggae

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Centroamérica – a powerful docu-play about truth and connection in an age of distance and denial

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Lido Pimienta – La Belleza

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

Tamir Barzilay – Phosphene Journal

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

The best ‘’Candlelight concert‘’ ever.

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

Men I Trust – Equus Caballus

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

The Halluci Nation – Path of the Baby Face

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

A lap steel guitar choir and an angel to end the Innovations en concert 24-25 season

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

The OSM and Abel Selaocoe: Evenings When You’d Like to Stop Time

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Reaching for the sky: Francis Choinière’s challenge to end his OPCM’s 10th season

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Piknic 3: A Little Bit of Everything Under the Sun

Cazzu – Latinaje

Cazzu – Latinaje

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

SMCQ | In memoriam Jocelyn Morlock

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Abbey Road at Festival Classica

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Mira Choquette – Hier encore

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Jared Dunn; Anna Gorecka – Gorecki’s World of the Piano

Subscribe to our newsletter