[Track Review] We listen to and discuss 2 new CODE ORANGE songs 'I Am King' and 'My World'

Code Orange - a name change, two new songs and mixed feelings

First off there’s something to be said about the pompous turn the Code Orange Facebook page seems to have taken. But then again it might just be some postmodern thing and it’s all a joke that I’m not getting. What I also don’t get is the people that are complaining a lot about the name change. They didn’t exactly go wild with the name change, and also who cares? The name shouldn’t matter that much. The fact I am by now completely oblivious on a day to day basis to the abject terribleness of the band name Cult of Luna speaks volumes about band names and how they grow on you. I don’t even think twice anymore when I hear Anal Cunt or Cannibal Corpse. But I digress. Around mid-June, a new track, the title track, from the upcoming Code Orange album I am King (out September 2, Deathwish Inc.), surfaced online, along with a spiffy but gory music video. Then a day before this is being written, another track, 'My World', surfaced.


The title track is really good, to put it in mindblowingly simple terms.
It starts off with a start/stop drone-ish riff and then moves into full-blown noise chaos, before a short stop leading excellently into a d-beat-ish riff that comes swinging with full force. After that we come again to the drone-ish riff or perhaps rather a variation on it, now with drums and sort of murmured vocals that are pretty low in the mix. That riff is pretty damn good, especially with those drums. It would make the riff perfect in my ears if the snare hit would be followed by a bass drum kick on the next beat, in the middle of the stop, but alas, you can’t always get what you want. Then comes a pretty heavy, pretty rock 'n' roll riff, although it definitely has a distinct Code Orange flavour to it, which is followed by a short d-beat part and then they lunge into a quite typical Code Orange breakdown, introducing it with some of those boring deep-voice shouts that they’ve got going, before the drone-ish riff takes us the rest of the way.

The video is alright, although I’m definitely not the person that should be telling you about videos. It’s black and white, set on a farm, and mostly features performance shots of the band, intercut with three band members walking towards camera in a field, the drummer taking centre and murmuring those indistinct vocals. Then as the video progresses, the performance shots are intercut with footage of three people taking a fourth person out into a field and carving what seems like “TOTH” into his back. Gory stuff. Too much for me frankly, I can’t watch that part a second time.

The newer song, 'My World' (LISTEN), is quite a different animal. It’s quite Code Orange-ish but so far all I hear is really slow Norma Jean stuff. Breakdown-ish power chords with your run of the mill minor seconds that Norma Jean use so much (and even tune their guitars to), along with some variation in the high pitched intervals. This track also reminds me somewhat of Dead Storm-era Psyke Project stuff, although the Danes have never favoured the minor seconds as much as Norma Jean (and now Code Orange) although to be honest, who has?
The rhythm of the track is great, and offers a lot of potential, but unfortunately all the riffs on top of it are really boring. The rhythm offers a great backline, but nothing of value is built upon it. There’s nothing memorable about any of the riffs, save for the rhythm of them. Not even the more clangy flurry-of-notes (sort of) melodies are any bit exciting. All this stuff is pretty heavy, which I guess is cool, and might sound pretty good in concert, but when streamed, my reaction is just sort of, “is that it?”, and “I wonder when the really good part comes that saves the track”, but unfortunately it never comes.

I’d gotten proper excited when I am King came online, but now that this second one has hit the internet my expectations have gone down quite a few notches. Obviously these are just two tracks out of probably ten so you never really know what the whole thing will sound like, but I’m beginning to suspect that this album will be like Love is Love, in that it had its moments of greatness, but in between there were some awful songs, like 'Sleep (I’ve been slipping)', that just made me want to turn off the music. 'My World' definitely falls into that category unfortunately.
- Kristján Friðbjörn

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