Code Orange (FKA Code Orange Kids) are a Pittsburgh based Punk band whose style of music often goes plenty back and forth between Metal and Punk. With their debut album, "Love Is Love/Return To Dust", Code Orange brought in plenty of wretched hardcore punk vocals with some more metal riffs and solos. These were some seriously off the wall tracks that were totally wild, instantly throwing me into their world. I was impressed with the way Code Orange could flawlessly blast through more metal passages, but also play the patient game with more creeping passages that built up tension. Some of the more ambient passages were actually done quite beautifully as well, but stuck around a little too long for my liking. "Love Is Love/Return To Dust" wasn't perfect, but it was a solid start. On 2014's "I Am King" album though, whoa nelly, Code Orange REALLY came into their own. The music here was much more powerful, blasting in with some industrial and more metalcore influence. As a whole, overall "I Am King" was much more of a metal album, but man did this seriously ever hit me the right way. Sometimes a metal band like Trash Talk, or Nails just comes along and makes me want to break everything in sight, that's how I felt listening to "I Am King". Tracks like the title track were sluggish and massive, tracks like "Dreams In Inertia" were downright chilling in their massive depressive atmosphere, while other tracks like "Alone In A Room" and "Starve" showed Code Orange at their most confident. There was some seriously heavy stuff going on here. So up until this point, I've enjoyed Code Orange casually, they haven't really blown me away with anything completely. So here we are, Code Orange have a brand new album, let's chat about "Forever".
First up to bat is the title track, and the first single released from the album. “Forever” starts off with a huge bang with this very commanding sounding demonic voice, leave it to Code Orange to not waste a single second plummeting us into hell. What follows this voiceover quite frankly is just pure brutality. The chugging guitar and hulking atmosphere may start slow, but very quickly get completely out of control. The vocal performances on “Forever” is absolutely gigantic, while the chorus (if you want to call that a chorus) packs even more of a punch and has more metalcore influence. All of a sudden, everything kinda stops and we get an actually gorgeous ambient passage complete with these angelic vocals that actually come off working fantastically. The slower passages here are intense, the more upbeat passages are absolutely ball-busting, and the return of that demonic voice over towards the end is absolutely chilling. And while most of this track has a hardcore edge to it, those instrumentals towards the end are all metal. All I have to say about this brilliant track, is “YES”! “Kill The Creator” is up next, another early track released from he album. To be honest though, this track doesn’t do nearly as much for me. The intro of “Kill The Creator” is basically the equivalent of opening up a furnace, throwing yourself in, and shutting the door behind you. Quickly, this one is absolutely animalistic, Code Orange often give you the feeling that your in a “No Rules” atmosphere. Like I said though, this track really bugs me a little, and people were talking about this track A LOT. It’s ok and all, but Code Orange on this track constantly shift the tempo and change styles whenever the hell they feel like it in an attempt to sound progressive. Now don’t get me wrong, each of these passages are actually seriously well done. The hardcore passages are absolutely ruthless, with absolutely barbaric screams and intense breakdowns. While the slower, more ambient portions bring in an unbelievable atmosphere that make this album a whole lot darker. For me though, I feel like there’s just a little too much going on here. Code Orange are trying to sound so far ahead of the ball that I feel like they’ve lost sight of it completely. I do have to say though, if these were split into a couple of separate tracks, we’d be dealing with some seriously special moments, I really wish I could like this track. Code Orange though bounce back quickly with “Real”, which when I first listened to this I had to question even what the hell I was listening to anymore. “Real” is absolutely inhuman sounding. The drums here are pummeling, and overall this is much more on the metal side of the Code Orange spectrum. As far as the vocals go, the performances here are terribly agonizing. Put that all together with these bone-shattering instrumentals and a dungeon like atmosphere, yea “Real” may be one of the heaviest tracks I’ve ever heard from Code Orange. Now I’ll be perfectly honest, there are absolutely gimmicky elements here and there. Hell, there are elements here that I would honestly roll my eyes at if this was just about any other band, mainly those whispers of “Where do you draw the line?”. Honestly though, Code Orange pulls it off really well, and I end up feeling like I’m watching a really solid horror movie. There are some industrial elements (those show up again later), there are some groove metal influences too (which I’m not wild about but it doesn’t stick around long enough to lessen my thoughts). If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is actually quite the undertaking for Code Orange, and this is certainly their most instrumentally diverse album. Yea, there are some cheesy moments here and there, but I can’t complain, this track freakin’ rules. “Bleeding In The Blur” is up next, and while I’ve been on the fence with Code Orange’s instrumentals in the past, this actually ups the atmosphere big time. In the past I haven’t totally hated their ambient passages, but I feel like they needed work. It’s clear that they have indeed worked on them, and on “Bleeding In The Blur” ambient intro does a really fantastic job of ushering in the sheer brutality of everything else. While this track is another slow burner, Code Orange do a fine job of working with these chugging rhythms. The big shocker here comes from the vocals. Here, Code Orange incorporate some more melodic, clean vocals compared to yells and screams. To be honest, it works absolutely fantastically. The use of more catchy hooks changes their music completely, but they roll with it very nicely. So far, this isn’t perfect, but it’s a quality metal album.
Up next is “The Mud”, which honestly couldn’t be a more fitting title. Right from this intro I am 100% not feeling this track, not even close. The last thing I want to hear from Code Orange is an electronic sort of intro. No thank you. Sure, this still has some heaviness to it as well as some nice industrial undertones. But like I said, this couldn't have a more fitting title, this track is muddy as hell. But it doesn’t even come off in a good way. Trust me, I love sludgy, messy metal. But “The Mud” is just plan ugly. The vocals barely play any factor here because everything else sort of drowns them out, and the production here just sounds sloppy. Despite being literally the longest track on this album, I barely have anything else to say about it. Things do get better in the last minute or so when the instrumental picks up, but c’mon guys I think you can do better. Thankfully this slump doesn't last too long. Up next, “The New Reality” gives us one of the most straightforward sounding tracks here. That’s far from a bad thing though, after that jumbled mess I can use a more straightforward track. The instrumentals here are solid, and the vocals don’t really even pop in for most of the track. Hell, i would even go as far as to say that I wouldn’t have minded this track to be a full length instrumental. As far as the vocals go however, they are interesting here, as we get a small sampling of each of the vocalists. It’s the shortest track here, and no it’s far from perfect, but “The New Reality is just solid. Now I said earlier that Code Orange can really pull off some of these slower paced tracks. They usually seriously can, “Spy” however is the exception. While these chugging rhythms usually work really well for Code Orange, here they come off as practically Nu Metal. And just when I thought I was starting to really get into this track, the verses hit and the guitar melodies are absolutely horrendous. Sure, the vocal performance is solid and all, but as a whole I’m seriously not feeling “Spy”. It’s just so damn gimmicky all the way through, but with no real character. Hell, even that blast of energy in the last 30 seconds comes off completely flat. Gah. Thankfully, tracks like “Ugly” save this album big time. These more atmospheric tracks I tell ya are really something that Code Orange are going to want to hold on to. They take their time ushering in “Ugly”, and the result is absolutely fantastic. It all comes off so effortlessly here I can’t help but absolutely love everything. The guitars are murky, the vocals are genuinely unsettling, and the chorus is just the brilliant burst of energy you would hope it to be. All I can say is, I would seriously love for them to go down this road for a full length album, THAT may be the album that totally sells me for Code Orange. I need more tracks like “Ugly”, pronto.
Rating: 7.5/10
Give A Listen To: "Forever", "Real", "Bleeding In The Blur", "Ugly"
Overall Thoughts: I wouldn't say this is an absolutely stunning metalcore album. But I think this is probably my favorite Code Orange project from start to finish. Code Orange have seriously been working hard on creating darker atmosphere's while not giving up any ounce of their brutal, violent instrumentals. It opens up plenty of doors for an even greater future release from Code Orange.
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