What can be said about the latest album from these "flying" Dutchmen? It's good, quite good... But not a masterpiece.
ORPHANAGE are following the path of their closest peers WITHIN TEMPTATION — commercialization, while maintaining a more classic approach to vocal arrangements built on the "beauty and the beast" principle, with the latter taking the lead.
Critics described this band's previous work with a cumbersome, barely pronounceable phrase (roughly seven words long), while others more succinctly called it gothic metal. We won't dig into stylistic classifications (a rather thankless task), and will simply name some of the ingredients in this potent cocktail: quality production and sound, memorable, driving and dynamic melodies, punchy industrial guitars, and an intriguingly executed vocal duet.
Perhaps none of this is new, but it is all so well brought to life that it wins you over.