Live Review : Orbit Culture + Defects @ Rebellion, Manchester on March 8th 2024

Orbit Culture have been touted as being “the next best thing” since “Nija” appeared during the pandemic days. Despite only just embarking on their debut headline tour, after 10 years of being a band, they have earned acclaim from the likes of Trivium and Machine Head. Having blown us all away opening for the former last August, they are very much a band on everyone’s lips. All bar a few shows on this inaugural UK/EU slog are sold out, and the ones that still have a few tickets to be snapped up, are sure to be at at full capacity come show day. 

However, before we get to worship at the altar of metals latest New Hope we have The Defects. They are somewhat of a super group, made up of members of Shvpes and The Raven Age (bands themselves that at certain points were declared to be the new musical messiahs)

To the casual observer, Defects are not a band that you would associate with opening for Orbit Culture, operating on the more Core/Tech side of things. However, in the flesh, it is much much less of a mismatch. The Defects’ bone-crunching breakdowns and melodic “sing-your-heart-out choruses” are positively received by the Manchester crowd. Whilst not offering something new, or innovative, they have just enough about them to be memorable in a genre that can be perceived as overdone and uninspired. For breathing life back into an old concept they deserve all the credit that is due. They exit the stage with quite a few new fans and most importantly a momentum to take them further. 

Even before the band take to the stage, you could tell Orbit Culture had put a considerable amount of thought and care into the way they want to present their show. Instead of relying on using the PA system to blast music fitting of an Orbit Culture show, they instead opt to play ominous, almost religious-esque chanting over the speakers, building up a tense aura of anticipation. As soon as this hit its crescendo, the band are given a heroes welcome as they immediately blast into their opening number, ‘Black Mountain’. 

The scope that Orbit Culture presents through their music is a triumph in itself. They are a love letter to sonic obsessions, encompassing a variety of styles from Thrash to Metalcore to Hardcore to Nu Metal. Whilst impossible to pigeonhole, this doesn’t mean in the slightest that Orbit Culture are Jack’s of all trades but masters of none. Everything they do is meticulous and refined, and individual sections have a natural ability to exist for the exact amount of time that they should. 

Effortlessly, each passage simultaneously stands alone as an individual contribution to a song whilst being memorable enough to appear as pieces of the puzzle that is the overall, expansive soundscape of each track. This is an incredibly difficult trick to pull off and Orbit Culture are masters of it. 

They present 80 minutes of pure, unadulterated fun. The secret is, for all density and gruff vocals, Orbit Culture are a massively accessible band. If you don’t like your music heavy, there are so many facets to their sound that everyone will find something that they enjoy within the show's run time. The choruses of ‘The Strangler’ and ‘From The Inside’ will be mainstays for years to come and there won’t be a venue that isn’t levelled during ‘North Star of Nija’ and ‘Vultures of North’. Every song is a highlight and that is a testament to their reliability and consistency as a band. 

The passion for Orbit Culture and their music is reciprocated by the Mancunian faithful. Every song met with Pits, Wall of Deaths, Crowd Surfing and the like. There is a collective mutual understanding within the venue that these guys are on the cusp of greatness, and that their next visit to the city is likely to be within the Academy, Warehouse or even one of our two enormous arenas. It’s not often that bands live up to the hype and the monikers, but Orbit Culture tonight took that baton and absolutely ran with it. We have seen the future and it is Orbit Culture shaped.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Orbit Culture, Defects