Labels: This Is Popsummer
Review by: Oli Saunders
This is one of the best screamo demos I’ve heard in a long time. It’s just a shame the band are long gone, left in the realms of the obscure and underappreciated along with so many others. But at least their first recordings have been released, albeit sometime after the band disappeared from existence I think. They broke up in 2007, I found out about them a year or so after that and have been hunting for this demo ever since. Recently I found it on tape in the distro of the Australian label Tenzenmen. Shaun who runs it told me he picks copies of it up every time he visits Malaysia as it’s floating about in distros over there. It’s meant to be coming out on CDr on Yellow Ghost but there are questions over whether this will ever happen – well, it has been meant to have been coming out for a considerable amount of time now. So what we are left with is perhaps 100 copies of this bands legacy, which few people want or care about it seems. I do though, even enough to sit inside writing over the top praise for it on such a nice day as today. Just maybe someone will read this and check the band out and like them, that’s what I’m hoping for anyway.
Orlacs Hände play pretty original screamo which sounds a little different to all other screamo bands that I obsess over. I think they sound a bit like a slowed down version of Storm The Bastille. Its pretty chaotic and there are dual vocals in places. The slow pace doesn’t stop it sounding really powerful and if anything it makes the vocals ultra intense. There is also that trademark Aussie guitar sound in places but whilst you can spot whether a lot of emo bands or Australian or not a mile off via this sound and the vocals, it’s not so obvious here. Intense instruments give the perfect backdrop for yells and screams of anguish along with occsional shouted sobs. I love how the guitar and bass combine, pretty much playing the same note all the time whilst the drums also fit in will with this. There is no stand out track, it’s all great. The vocals are absolutely killer throughout. All I can to do after playing the tape is to turn over and start again.
Overall, highly recommended but you’ll probably have trouble getting a copy from a Euro distro. The tape came out on This Is Popsummer, a label from Malaysia who only released this and then called it a day. Shame – well, they did put on some awesome shows too. Nice and simple packaging and insert, my only criticism is that it would have been good if lyrics were included. If you like emo or screamo then give this band a listen.
22nd August 2009