Album Review: ORCumentary – Fully ORChestrated (Self Released)

New England comedic metal act ORCumentary is excited to announce his first release in 5 years. Recorded in the depths of Middle Earth, er, quarantine, Fully ORChestrated will be available February 5th, 2021. Orc Adams, hero of the orcs, wielder of the keyboard of mayhem, and sole member of ORCumentary, comments:

ORCumentary is back! I am so excited to present Fully ORChestrated, a special album that commemorates 15 years of the best orc rock band in the universe! COVID-19 may have shut down live concerts and 98% of fun in general, but it gave me the opportunity to hunker down and bring to life an idea that’s been festering in my evil brain for over a decade.

This album takes many classic ORCumentary songs and swaps out their electric guitars and traditional drums for searing strings, blaring brass, terrifying timpani, and tooting flutes! The album also includes ORCumentary’s first new single in 5 years, and an uproarious cover of ‘Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way’, originally featured in the Return of the King animated film from 1980! Sound the horns, sharpen your sword, and put on a new loincloth, because The Time of the Orc Has Come!

This is a fun idea and works surprisingly well considering the source material/inspirations and comedic fantastical melodic metal that ORCumentary normally play.

Forget the metal though, this is something very, very different. Where orchestral and folk instruments are the showcase of the album. Aside from the guttural vocal style, metal fans won’t find much here. So, if this is your first entry into this orcish world you might find it a little tougher to stomach.

It is very much for fans of ORCmentary. Those that have followed the band for years and years. A chance for them to hear their favourites in a new and interesting way. As well as hearing the brand new single, The Time of the Orc Has Come. Which is playful at times but becomes quite threatening with a war-march like beat.

Elsewhere the more serious and hilariously emotive keys of Troll Snot stands out as one of the strongest ‘conversions’. Although the outright silliness of Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way is far too much fun to not mention too.

If you quite like the sound of bombastic, symphonic and folkish ORC inspired music that has a tongue firmly planted in cheeks then you can’t go wrong here.

ORCumentary – Fully ORChestrated Full Track Listing:

1. The Time of the Orc Has Come
2. Goblin Death March (ORChestrated)
3. The Betrayer’s Song (ORChestrated)
4. Troll Snot (ORChestrated)
5. Where There’s A Whip, There’s A Way!
6. Orcs on Ice (ORChestrated)
7. Orc in my Bathtub (ORChestrated)
8. Smoke the Ashes of Your Enemy with a Pipe Carved From Their Bones (ORChestrated)

Links

Big Cartel | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube