Completely engulfed in the Prego philosophy of musical styles ("it's in there"), Holland's Orphanage are a band capable of many onslaughts that will render you helpless. They will either crush you like a pack of angry elephants or bore you into submission. Fortunately for you there is a lot more crushing going on rather than boring. The band features three vocal styles: George Oosthoek's grunting and studio processed screams, Guus Eiken's clean somber singing, and Rosan van der Aa's soprano. The majority of the vocals are dominated by Oosthoek's not-too-demonic voice while still leaving room for some good harmonies. Meanwhile, the band rumbles along at a half decent tempo, never getting too crazy. At the same time the slower numbers move like Los Angeles traffic during rush hour. Lex Vogelaar's guitar playing is an interesting usage; it acts more as a rhythm barrage. This can be heard most effectively on the excellent first two tracks, "At the mountains of madness" and the somewhat exotic "Five Crystals". Unfortunately after this great start the album lumbers along with what amounts to filler material. However, the strengths of this album show that there are some interesting times down the line with this fabulously talented band. Their next onslaught will more than likely be lethal.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 10/1998

Back to top 

Orphanage is still at it. Fortunately they've taken the best of what they did on By Time Alone and refined it for Inside. Their sound from their previous release is completely and fully intact and quite possibly the band has improved their songwriting hand over fist this time around. By Time Alone, by my count, had three or four really good songs and a lot of tunes that just lingered around like underage kids outside a liquor store. Inside, however, shooshes those kids away and is a more fulfilling album overall.

The band's core sound is primarily unchanged since their last record. Revolving around the extremely thick and tough guitar riffs of Lex Vogelaar and the ugly death grunting of George Oosthoek, Orphanage has a solid identity. Everything else the band does is built around those two things. Each of the songs is rhythmic and has a groove, with things like keyboards or backing female and male vocals intertwine around the grunts. The band has a good sense of underscoring the heaviness of the guitar with intelligent usage of their keyboards. Some of the material comes off a bit amusing, especially when Oosthoek informs the listener, "I'll kick your fucking ass" in "Kick". Occasionally the thick Dutch accents of the clean vocalists can be heard.

Orphanage's Inside should be of note for anyone who liked By Time Alone and hoped the band would grow in their songwriting skills. Their death metal elements might be a turn off for some, but the heavy grooviness and the interesting usage of vocals throughout make this a pretty solid release for the band.

Review by John Chedsey

Review date: 12/2000

Back to top