Orbit Culture - Death Above Life

Orbit Culture have never been a band to tread lightly. Since emerging from the frozen Swedish underground, the Eksjö-based melodic death metal quartet have honed a sound that’s equal parts punishing and cinematic, a blend of thrash ferocity, death metal heft, and industrial-tinged atmospherics. On their forthcoming fifth studio record, Death Above Life, and their first album with Century Media Records, which is due October 3, 2025, the band reach their most ambitious and widescreen vision yet. It’s a record of rebirth, transformation, and sheer force, solidifying Orbit Culture as one of the most vital voices in modern metal.

Frontman and chief songwriter Niklas Karlsson describes the album as “a big change for the better… a rebirth,” and that sentiment echoes throughout its ten tracks. Each song feels like both a continuation of Orbit Culture’s relentless trajectory and a bold step into new territory. Where past releases often leaned into groove-driven brutality, Death Above Life layers on cinematic intros, atmospheric flourishes, and unexpected shifts in tone without ever losing its bite.

The opening number “Inferna” immediately sets the tone with a foreboding, scorched-earth atmosphere before giving way to jagged riffing that recalls Gojira’s tectonic weight, but filtered through Orbit Culture’s own melodic sensibility. It’s less a song than an invocation—a gateway into the rebirth Karlsson speaks of.

The album's second track, “Bloodhound,” erupts with a pure primal rage. It’s a track born of disillusionment with an exploitative industry, but also an anthem of reclamation. The riffs gnash and bite, the drums thunder like war drums at bullet speed, and Karlsson’s guttural growl cuts through with raw fury.

“Inside the Waves” shifts gears, weaving clean vocal passages into its swirling storm of riffs, evoking an oceanic pull between serenity and violence. The balance between the harsh and melodic here shows Orbit Culture’s growing confidence in dynamics and mood.

Then comes “The Tales of War”—the band’s chosen lead single and perhaps the purest distillation of their sound. With its cinematic string intro, its massive chorus, and its battlefield imagery, it feels tailor-made for festival stages. Orbit Culture’s strength lies in their ability to make music that’s both intimate and colossal, and this track exemplifies that duality. It’s as much a rallying cry as it is a narrative.

The following is the track “Hydra,” which takes things darker and heavier, featuring low-tuned guitar grooves and unnerving textures that nod to industrial metal. Inspired by the vastness of Dune, the song feels colossal—like a leviathan stirring beneath the sand. The production, complete with distorted strings and cavernous drums, amplifies that sense of scale. Lyrically, it’s about severing toxic ties, and the music mirrors that finality with crushing weight.

“Nerve” is a throwback of sorts, recalling the more melodic side of Orbit Culture’s earlier work. Its clean-sung chorus feels like an exhale after the suffocating heaviness of “Hydra,” and some of the previous tracks early on, yet its closing twist ensures it remains unpredictable. The track’s longevity in the band’s vaults pays off—it feels like the emotional spine of the record.

At the center is the title track, “Death Above Life.” Where “The Tales of War” builds a bridge to Orbit Culture’s future, this song smashes through it. Horror-inspired atmospherics, cavernous riffs, and lyrics about cutting ties with suffocating influences make it the darkest and most uncompromising song on the entirety of the album. Debuted at Download Festival, it already feels like a defining moment in their catalogue.

Now, the final stretch doesn’t relent. “The Storm” is aptly named, swirling with chaos and catharsis, while the penultimate track “Neural Collapse” pushes the band’s technical side with dizzying riff patterns and punishing rhythms. With their closing track, “The Path I Walk,” the band delivers their most heartfelt track of the album. It feels like both an ending and a beginning, marrying immensely sombre melodies with bone-crushing heaviness. It leaves the listener with the sense that Death Above Life is not just a chapter, but the first act of something in fact larger.

Orbit Culture has always existed in the liminal space between death metal’s ferocity and metalcore’s accessibility, but here they carve out something more timeless. Death Above Life is cinematic without pretension, brutal without monotony, and personal without losing its universality. It’s an album about letting go, moving forward, and embracing transformation with both fists clenched.

With this release, Orbit Culture have not only cemented their partnership with Century Media Records, but they've also positioned themselves as heirs to the modern metal throne alongside contemporaries with the likes of Gojira, Trivium, and Machine Head, to name a few. Death Above Life is their most complete and compelling statement to date—an album that doesn’t just mark rebirth, but demands it.

---

Check out more from Orbit Culture:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | TikTok