ALBUM REVIEW: Old Patterns – Orphan Donor
ORPHAN DONOR’s new album Old Patterns was described by some of their team as hardcore punk. While there are definitely some elements of hardcore within it, it is a gross understatement of how heavy this record is to even attempt to compare it to a hardcore band like TURNSTILE, as it is clear that this album is inspired by everything from death metal to punk. The dark, dissonant down-tuned riffs are hard-hitting from the very start, and if they had to be compared to any hardcore band then the most similar would be CODE ORANGE, but again that would be doing a disservice to both bands by attempting to pigeonhole them into the same genre.
Jared Stimpfl of SECRET CUTTER provides every single instrument on the record with the exception of CLOUDS COLLIDE vocalist Chris Pandolofo’s vocals, and even recorded and mixed the entire album in his home studio – Captured Recording Studios – which has also played host to JESUS PIECE amongst others before. For what is essentially a solo project, Old Patterns is an incredibly impressive record, with layers of complexity that completely hide the fact that all the instruments were provided by Stimpfl. The name ORPHAN DONOR stems from the death of Stimpfl’s father at age 13, and the project serves as a cathartic release for his emotions – and he says it “mirrored my fragmented thought process,” after his death, which he never came to terms with, “and eight years of repression led me to a terrible psychosis.”
As a drummer Stimpfl looks at music in a very drum-focused way, and from the sound of the record it is clear that the drums are the driving force behind the harsh vocals and big riffs, keeping the entire record moving forward at a breakneck pace. Pandolofo’s vocals are also a key factor in the intensity of the music, coming to a crescendo on the cymbal infused final track Profound Loss, which is also clearly related to Stimpfl’s bereavement. This album closer is also almost twice as long as most of the other tracks on the record, clocking in at just over five minutes, while the rest tend to only last under three minutes, but the extra length is necessary to take the listener on a journey through Stimpfl’s emotions, conveyed through Pandolofo’s voice – backed up of course as ever by the band’s mastermind on every other instrument.
The longer nature of the closing track also lends itself to a slightly calmer song – while the rest of the album and songs like New Patterns and Planks are non-stop, there are some ebbs and flows to Profound Loss, which it would have been interesting to see elsewhere. This is certainly the song with the most potential – and yet it is arguably the most out of place song on here, especially as an album that purports itself to be a hardcore record. Stimpfl purports to have been inspired by everything from THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN to DEFTONES and those two bands certainly rear their heads most at the end, with the track’s experimental nature sounding like a strange melding of the two.
Old Patterns is for the most part, a non-stop heavy album, which is fine in its own right, but it is when it stops and takes a breather right at the end where it truly becomes something a bit more. If this could have been expanded on further then this could be a special album, but as it currently is it is still a record not to miss – especially for fans of much heavier metal influenced hardcore.
Rating: 7/10
Old Patterns is out now via self-release.
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