London Power trio Black Orchid Empire return with their sophomore release the booming atmospheric ‘Yugen’. Kicking off this thunderous album is the soaring melody cruncher ‘My Favourite Stranger’, the song offers a perfect path into the album’s main body of work. ‘Burn’ keeps the fire lit before ‘Celebrity Summer’ dissects the nation’s obsession with fame. The slow build on ‘Blacklight Shadow’ mirrors the Foo’s while the ‘Pray To The Creature’ track has some traditional twists and turns within itself. The ballad-type break comes in the form of the acoustic ‘Vertigo’ and as with all Rock/Metal ballads, it struggles with the balance between the heartfelt honesty and the corny cliches of those wistful 80’s sickly sweet ditties. Power is thankfully restored with the jab, punch, jab ‘Mouth Of The Wolf’. Both ‘Pins And Needles’ and ‘Toru’s Maze’ continue down the same impressive path before album closer ‘Years’ goes for the piano intro before morphing into an electrical storm of criss crossing styles to complete this top quality release.
BLACK ORCHID EMPIRE
YUGEN
Long Branch Records/SPV
7.5/10