‘Blinded by perceived reflection, Forgetting honest compassion, Estranged by your own mind, Crying wolf, Self victimise, Emptiness reaped, Selfishness sewed’ (Narcissist)

Orc Party is an album that plunges us back to the late 1980s’, when hardcore and crust took thrash metal, and mutated it into something altogether more gnarly and nasty.  Yet this is no mere homage.  The savagery on display speaks to a band who not only love these influences but, featuring as they do current and former members of Firewalker, Scalpel, and Vaxine, have the technical chops to match their passion.

This is the New York band’s follow-up to 2022’s Destabilize and it takes things to a new level of intensity.  The haunting, swirling dungeon synths of Friendship perfectly prime the atmosphere, before we are pitched into the darkly thrashing maelstrom.  Here, growled vocals, blast beat eruptions, squalling solos, bloodcurdling howls, and Mick Harris-style barking yelps are all melded together with an unashamed relish.  It is the riffs though that steal the day.  From the bruising breakdowns that close out Narcissist and Goblin Mode, by way of the venomous grooves that define Time Is Fake and Hope Fucker, they are proper pit provokers.

In another call back, there is also a sense of mischief that runs through the record that provides a counterpoint to its seething misanthropy as it surveys the naked self-interest and delusion that is driving humanity to the brink.  All of which is invoked through the imagery of The Lord Of The Rings, obviously.  And just when you think you have a handle on proceedings, 80HD close out with a thumping industrial dance remix of Goblin Mode.