Orcus is an original, progressive, and tastefully pop debut from Norwegian metallers Drott

True, the intricacies which set the tone of that album are but elaborate digressions on “Caerdroia” and do not follow the angular paths mapped out by the rhythm section, as is evident on “The Strait”. And what about the oppressive, sonic lesson in noise that is “The Marauders”? One can’t avoid feeling the echoes of John Zorn’s Electric Masada permeating that tune while still lurking like a ghost wherever and whenever the music broadens its horizon looking East (“Arch of Gloom”) or to last century (“The Strait”).

The digressions within this album could be typecast as “cinematic”, and yes, the harmonies are all in the right place, yes, there is an undeniable experimental component that keeps this hodgepodge of tones and registers together, so this album indeed feels like “the soundtrack of a movie which is yet to be shot”. A cliché perhaps, but this is exactly the impression one gets when listening to “Grey Gull” and its languid, careless, diluted stride.

DROTT is Arve Isdal (Enslaved), Ivar Thormodsæter (Ulver) and Matias Monsen, all originating from up there where metal got black and intense in an unsexual kind of way. And it is in Bergen (Norway, where else?) that this band formed out of lockdown turning its kinks for progressive, jazz, drone and metal into Orcus. But does it pay off? It does. There is nothing arresting about this album, yet one must applaud the fact that, despite the lack of proper artistic boldness, this trio manages to mark its territory providing its personal stance on a range of influences which are not that common in contemporary bands. Orcus may sound rushed at times, a tad “too” spontaneous and some offshoots lack in depth, but does it really matter?

It is derivative but original, progressive and, yet, tastefully pop, Orcus is the first step in a direction; a moderately daring enterprise kept in motion by its very contradictions. It takes a certain talent to do that, and DROTT have embraced the challenge with their arms well spread. The marauders know what they are talking about.