Style: post-metal, sludge metal, progressive metal (instrumental)
Recommended for fans of: Cult of Luna, The Ocean, If These Trees Could Talk, Pijn
Country: Switzerland
Release date: 22 November, 2024
We’re settling into winter here in the northern hemisphere, and with it comes a host of things to escape from. Holiday stresses mount higher and higher as long nights and short days induce seasonal depression—it’s enough to make anyone want to melt into a nice hot bath and let their troubles dissolve away. And what better liquid for a cozy bath than…coffee? This metaphor got away from me, but whether it’s a good idea or not, Orso are here for all your coffee-bathing needs, following up their sandwich-themed Paninoteca from 2019 with a caffeinated post-metal extravaganza. Like the ground sediment found in the last drops to be drunk from the bottom of your mug, Orso also bring along a legacy of sludge with three band members formerly of now-defunct sludge/death metal outfit Kruger,1 reinforcing the inevitable comparisons to fellow sludgey post-metalers Cult of Luna.
I must confess I’m not a coffee drinker, so I have little insight to offer about how well each track’s mood suits its namesake beverage, but on the whole I enjoy the use of beverage-as-metaphor; the rich sound of post-sludge metal inherently evokes the deep brown roasted color and texture of the album’s inspiration. However, where one might expect the coffee theme to remain concrete and grounded in mundane reality, the music found throughout Caffè? sounds detached and ethereal with its generous use of reverb and weighty, ponderous phrases of distorted bass and guitar. The resulting blend of dense, earthy rhythms and bright, enthusiastic melody comes together like rich, steaming espresso poured over smooth, sweet ice cream. It’s a delicious combination in real life, and equally satisfying in music form.
Despite the characteristic deep post-metal tones which dominate surface level impressions of Caffè?, the complexity and depth it achieves with three separate guitarists each laying their own contribution one atop the other make it one of the most enthusiastic and triumphant-sounding post-metal albums I’ve ever heard. Particularly on the closing track “Affogato,” Orso’s soaring riffs offer an intense sense of resolution and a catharsis almost worthy of power metal despite remaining firmly entrenched in post-metal aesthetics. On the other hand, while “Espresso” sounds a little more subdued on the whole, its opening moments offer a unique cross-section of the complex layers that Caffè? offers, introducing a rainbow of guitar parts that intertwine and play across each other’s surfaces as the grooves grow deeper and deeper like snow piling up outside your window. Only the third track “Americano” feels a step short of its three siblings, settling into rote post-rock patterns and never quite reaching a payoff point for the development promised by the track’s early setup. Still, it’s only a small blemish on an otherwise consistently great album.
One other feature of Orso’s music that stands out to me compared to their post-metal compatriots is the depth of their dynamic range. It’s easy for post-rock or post-metal to fall into the trap of being always loud or always quiet, sprinkling in a few crescendos or quiet moments here and there, but when such dynamic shifts are included solely for contrast’s sake, they lose their impact, the discontinuity of loudness becoming a surprise to the listener instead of a welcome and expected payoff to a careful build. Caffè? achieves just the right balance, always finding exactly the right level of loudness to serve the moment and with appropriate attention paid to making these dynamic transitions feel satisfying and earned. The opening track “Ristretto” in particular dips in and out of quiet, pensive moments like the troughs of a wave, emphasizing Orso’s contrasting tones that much more when the track finally arrives at its heavy, in-your-face closing crescendo.
You’ve gotta respect a band that commits to the bit, and Orso are nothing if not committed to their silly yet oddly compelling album themes. It can’t be easy to convey the arbitrary and musically unconventional theme of coffee through a fully instrumental album, but Caffè? nevertheless communicates the necessary moods and textures with great success, combining a gritty representation of the physical beverage itself with airy and ethereal qualities that seem to express the more mythical conceptual status attributed to the abstract role of caffeinated drinks in our society. Orso knock their composition out of the park, with towering complexities, satisfying crunch, and a vibrant intensity rarely found in gloomy post-metal; Caffè? leaves a lovely, steamy coffee aroma long after its last reverberation has faded from the air, a welcome tonic of warmth against the consuming cold dark of the coming winter.
Recommended tracks: Ristretto, Espresso, Affogato, maybe a nice chai latte if they have one
You may also like: Shy, Low, Ikaiora, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, Lost in Kiev
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: No Sun Records – Bandcamp | Official Website
Orso is:
– Thomas Target (drums)
– Blaise Brechbühl (bass)
– Raul Bortolotti (guitars)
– Sébastien Pittet (guitars)
– Etienne Marguerat (guitars)
- Not to be confused with Keurig, the coffee maker brand. ↩︎
