Cosmiclava where the lava flows

Apart of the mighty Rotor, here we have another semi-instrumental rock band from the former wall-city Berlin. I remember their contribution to the Setalight Records compilation, which was nice but nothing unique. But the new album, that has been released 2005 on Mad Cell Records is a living and vital proof of the band's capacities. As the album-title says, this album is packed with grooves, but not only the smooth ones, though ORWO6 can handle this too. Whenever neccessary,  the band comes up with some unexpected breaks and turns, without losing their cohesivness or punch. Although the label-info describes ORWO6 with the term "stonerrock", I can't relate to it, because here's a big difference to bands as Truckfighters, The Awesome Machine or Kyuss. Even Rotor are more "stonerrock" than ORWO6, but well, anyway .... who cares! But nevertheless, ORWO6 have created their own heavy sounding style, which is also very different to aforementioned bands.

Here's the bass not only the backbone of the band, but also a dominating instrument at times. What I like about this gang is their very own coolness in playing, while hammering out complex songs without losing focus on rockin' the shit out. Just take "Piece of Cake", one of the very few non-intrumental cuts on "Groove Royal", that starts like a typical heavy rock song and becomes darker and more aggressive with every second. "Henry Chinaski" kicks off with the main riff of Deep Purple's "Black Night", and goes over into a heavy parts, driven by power-chords, which reminds me to Karma To Burn. At least, the production builds an emphasis on the band's own sound, which draws its heaviness not from a load of heavy chords, but more from the complete compositions. So, if you're sick and tired of all the same sounding bands around you, "Groove Royal" is a real alternative and not only recommandable for fans of heavy sounds. Good stuff!!
(KK)
www.orwo6.de
www.madcellrecords.de