### Orbeth: Heaven

#### 17/01/12 || Guest Dominator

Guest review by forumer Thorshammer.

Orbeth, where to start… Well, Orbeth is the brainchild of Bijimitsu a.k.a. Ben White and covers the land of Orbethia, A wondrous place fantastically brought to life majestically by various instrumentals and narration style vocals amongst many different things.

The album I’m covering today is the eighth album “Heaven”, or “երկինք” to give it its name in Armenian. Now I know what you are thinking, what is the thinking behind that? Well, I asked Bijimitsu this question myself and the response was :

“- Mainly due to the beautiful 3000 year old instrument that was born in the country. I remember the first time I heard a track using a Duduk. My soul was literally shock and awed by its magic!”

Don’t believe me, well… look here. If you are after a full on metal assault, this isn’t the album for you. For that I’d recommend “Seventh Galaxy” or “Sonic Power”, both by Orbeth and would be right up your street.

Well, what does this sound like then I hear you ask, well the genre description says ‘ambient/classical’ and is a very apt description. The only guitars on the album are acoustic, but what really shines through are the keyboard works, sounding not unlike a classic piano, pulls the album together. Vocals are used sparingly and is a throaty, growling voice. If there is one criticism it’s that the album would have been perfect for the spoken, narration style vocals, you know like Byron from Bal-Sagoth does and were prevalent on earlier albums. The tracks are so well composed that this can be easily forgiven and Bijimitsu is such a cool guy, so we’ll let it slide.

Strings. You’ve heard them before and now you can hear the Orbethian treatment on Heaven, predominantly heard on “They Are Watching Always”, “Northern Snow” and “Times Pendulum”, a personal favourite of mine along with ‘“The Bridge”. Feeling wise, it has the same kinda vibe as Ulver’s “Shadows of the sun”, only Orbethianised.

All in all, this is the album I’ve been waiting to hear since I heard the piano piece on “I Am But A Thought” from “Masters Of The Multiverse”, and I’m not disappointed. So if you want something different from the usual fare, get “Heaven”, you won’t be disappointed.

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: K-Mitch Records
- Website: http://orbethempire.forumotion.net
- Band
- Ben White : all instruments and vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. In Arcadia
- 02. They Are Watching Always (Orchestral)
- 03. Earth Gods
- 04. Four Winds
- 05. Lo And Behold
- 06. Northern Snow
- 07. Deep In Dreams
- 08. The Bridge
- 09. Bering Sea
- 10. Interlude
- 11. Times Pendulum
- 12. Battleship Orbethia
- 13. Gaia
- 14. Modnar Sucric (extra track)