In recent years, Swedish modern metal juggernauts ORBIT CULTURE have become an unavoidable force of nature in the metal scene. Following the release of their album “Nija,” which debuted a few months into the pandemic, the band surged online and translated their success into a busy touring schedule, supporting some of the biggest names in metal music: TRIVIUM, MACHINE HEAD, FEAR FACTORY, and IN FLAMES, among others. Now, several years later, the time has finally come for these Swedes to embark on their own headlining tour in support of their latest studio effort, “Descent.” We attended their sold-out show at Vanha Ylioppilastalo in Helsinki on April 2nd, 2024 with support from Swedish metalcore act BITE DOWN. Read our report below or check our photo gallery here…
BITE DOWN was tasked with warming up the crowd as the support act. I had only listened to a song or two on Spotify, including “Ynoga,” which made me realize why this band is a pretty good fit with ORBIT CULTURE. Energy-wise, it seemed like they would be able to offer a punch right in the face, just when you didn’t see it coming, so that seemed pretty much on point with what the headliners do. Anyway, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the energy they brought on board. Finns tend to skip support bands, but this band was able to attract a good chunk of the audience and retain their attention as well – sometimes beer is too tempting to lure citizens of this country away. While I didn’t recognize any of the songs the band played, it’s safe to say that their blend of metalcore was extremely engaging and warmed up the audience nicely; let’s collectively keep an eye on these guys!
During the layover time, atmospheric music was blasting from the speakers (I can’t help but wonder if ORBIT CULTURE‘s singer/guitar player Niklas Karlsson also composed that soundscape or if they just collected a bunch of Hans Zimmer songs and put them together), which makes sense since during my interview (coming sometime soon) earlier that day, Niklas mentioned his love for the sound design of Dune. The combination of this music and incense lit from the stage gave the performance something mysterious, something to trigger all senses, and essentially something that also felt a little cinematic at points. From that standpoint, despite Vanha Ylioppilastalo being a notorious venue for dark lighting, their pre-programmed lighting show (which I presume has similar settings to what we have seen before) also made total sense to me, since it does feel very filmic in a way that I can’t maybe put a finger on but generally just fits the band’s rather minimal aesthetics.
ORBIT CULTURE‘s intro “Descending” started playing, and a little before the scheduled playtime, drummer Christopher Wallerstedt took the stage. For somebody who’s extremely punctual and always early to any party, I actually appreciated them starting off the show a few minutes ahead of schedule. The band kicked off with “Black Mountain,” and from the get-go, the audience was pretty crazy. This became even more clear when the band continued with “Strangler,” a song that really gets an audience going. During the chorus, frontman Niklas Karlsson engaged the audience to sing along to the “Get Out, Get Out” part of the song, to which everybody in the venue responded well. There was a little bit of back and forth between Niklas and the audience until the band dived into “North Star of Nija” and continued with “Nensha.” I was still pretty much focused on taking photos and being in the photo pit, but I can only assume that at this point of the set, a giant mosh pit should have erupted to keep the party going; at least, that’s what that fury of a song deserves.
“The Shadowing” continued the heavy tendency of the set, until the band slowed things down a little with “See Through Me,” and for once, the loud audience fell silent, just experiencing the rollercoaster of emotions that song brings. We didn’t have a lot of time to transition from crying your eyes out to headbanging wildly with the intro to “Redfog,” but damn, I love a good contrast in the setlist. From there on, the set became a little intense. Guitarist Richard Hansson jumped off the stage to join a humongous circle pit. While everybody was circling around Richard as he played the guitar for “Alienated,” I found myself in the back, quite content to not be involved. However, it was amusing to see him being followed by a camera crew and their tour manager (I assume they were ensuring his safe return to the stage at some point, but I somewhat have the feeling that Richard could just be in a circle pit the whole damn show and he would have an absolute blast!) The absolutely insane atmosphere in the audience kept most of the pit action going during both “From the Inside” and “Saw.”
After that, Niklas addressed the audience again, mentioning that there’s a song from their latest EP, “The Forgotten,” that they definitely have to play because it’s “a bit of a hit” (quite the understatement for a song that almost has 2 million spins on Spotify, if you ask me). In response, some people started shouting the name of the song, “While We Serve,” but others, even louder, were chanting “wall of death, wall of death.” One of the guys, either Niklas or bass player Fredrik Lennartsson, told them that it doesn’t fit with that part of the song. Singer Niklas then mentioned that “While We Serve” is a perfect song for crowdsurfing too (mostly because of its name, I mean, I do love a good pun, admittedly), but he also called for a few circle pits at the same time. Altogether, it was a chaotic but exhilarating mess in the audience during the song, and I presume for most people, this must have been the evening’s absolute highlight. But if that wasn’t enough climax for everybody, the band’s last song, “Vultures of North,” maintained the intense atmosphere in the audience and included another huge mosh pit and yet another wall of death. Sadly, the band didn’t play encores, but considering the solid show they delivered, I think everybody went home satisfied.
Altogether, ORBIT CULTURE‘s show at Vanha Ylioppilastalo was one for the books. With the production kept fairly minimal, the audience was able to completely let loose, immerse themselves in the music, and forget the world around them. The Finnish audience is known for being shy and reserved, but there’s something about Finland and ORBIT CULTURE that creates a truly magical combination. That being said, when I wrote up a report last time, I thought a headlining show for these lads would be a pretty logical next step, we’ve got that, but we have to up the stakes here a little, so how about a whole Finnish tour next time around?
Article and photos by Laureline Tilkin
Setlist
- Black Mountain
- Strangler
- North Star of Nija
- Nensha
- The Shadowing
- See Through Me
- Redfog
- Alienated
- From the Inside
- Saw
- While We Serve
- Vultures of North
