Turbid North

Turbid North's sophomore opus, Orogeny, is a feast of calculable, death-influenced metal with hardcore leanings, which results in an unsurprisingly heavy attack. The generated sensation is as if a band like As I Lay Dying got hold of some Cannibal Corpse and Obituary cast-offs then tossed some of their screeching (vocals/guitars ― it makes no difference) over top. While not entirely fun draining, the majority of Orogeny isn't provocative either. It's another exercise in heavy-for-the-sake-of without featuring enough compelling moments, riffs or vocal lines to give us a reason to continue offering up our valuable time. While we haven't heard it delivered in this particular manner before, any heavy music fan has experienced the majority of what Turbid North offer, and often in far more interesting configurations. Still, the band do perform with an admirable degree of ability and the album's production values are of note. Regardless, these aspects don't propel Orogeny past the state of pedestrian metal.