By Kat Preston
I know Dog Knights Productions has been working on this record for a while now, and heck, it's well worth the wait. Admittedly, I know fuck all about screamo (apologies to any connoisseurs reading this) and the little of it I've encountered over the years hasn't really got on with my ears too well, which is probably how I've missed out on Orchid up until this point. However, from an initial listen I know I'm going to be working on correcting that ASAP. I've been going through each track listening to the Orchid version then the cover version and everyone seems to be doing a fantastic justice to the original and their own sound to boot. I tend to find covers sacrifice one thing or the other- the integrity of the primary song or the style of said band's music, but not one of these disappoints.
Opening with Coma Regalia's take on 'Aesthetic Dialect' you're thrown immediately into the chaos synonymous with screamo, which may be hard to deal with if you're relatively new to the genre, but you would be hard pushed to to be somewhat won over by the end of it. Whilst chaotic and compelling, every song brings about a strong sense of emotion and wide cultural references in a relatively short time. The next real milestone lies in the initially more melodic title track 'Epilogue Of A Car Crash' which Voyage In Coma add a fresh tilt to with a slightly more cogent touch and bold, solid vocal style. I could run through each song comparing the old to the new, but you can put your time to better use by just listening to this record and appreciating the vigour and spirit put into playing, recording and assembling these tracks in a crucial tribute to such a fundamental band within the screamo genre. For any skim listeners, or those even more unfamiliar with scream than I am, I'd recommend checking out the aforementioned tracks alongside 'Lights Out' (Carrion Spring), '...And The Cat Turned To Smoke' (Foxes), 'New Ideas In Mathematics' (Questionable Youth) and 'Anais Nin By Numbers' (Utarid).
Amid the dissonance there is a real power, a raw energy that goes to show how influential Orchid were and evidently still are over a decade later. Not only is this a good introduction to the band, but showcases a variety of styles from power-violence to emo to post-rock and rosters a ton of new and established bands to look into further. Either way, you're not walking away from this empty handed. Dog Knights Productions still have copies of the LP in their store, so go snap one up!
FFO: Is it too obvious to say Orchid?, Saetia, Pg. 99, Neil Perry
