The Orb Album: “Orblivion”

One thing to understand is that The Orb is constantly evolving, and no one album sounds like the one that came before it. That having been said, this makes "Orblivion" even more stunning than it already is. Dr. Alex Patterson, along with Andy Hughes and Thomas Felhmann have created an epic leading into the new millenium. The lead off track, "Delta MKII", is a frenzy of bleeps and bloops and constantly changing percussion over samples about Communists and the military. A barrage of pinball machine leads us into "Ubiquity". A sweeping array consisting of a bouncy beats, a nice floating keyboard hook, and a multitude of crazy sounds. Quite a nice track. "Asylum" is a nice 5 minute break from the cranks and whirs of the first two tracks. Probably one of the standout songs on the album. "Bedouin" has a playful tribal vibe to it which dissolves into utter creepiness, and "Molten Love" keeps the closest ties to "Pomme Fritz" and "Orbus Terrarum". The short barrage of noise that is "Pi" brings us into "S.A.L.T.", a barrage of jungle beats over a Scot ranting about the apocalypse. "Toxygene", the first single from the album, is incredibly catchy and will make you want to get up and groove. There's yet another small noise track, "Log Of Deadwood", then we're lead into "Secrets". A relatively subdued track, this has to be heard to describe just how great it is. "Passing of Time" is a Pink Floydian epic for the '90s, while "72" is just quite simply, the youth of America on LSD.

This album seems to tie up everything The Orb has done. It manages to catch the ambience, randomness, and off key humor of "Pomme Fritz" and "Orbus Terrarum", while adding in the dance-like beats, catchy hooks, and utter bliss of "UFOrb" and "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld".

This twelve track disc is a tad better than their 'Orbvs Terrarvm' CD(see my review).For this record,the band has been stripped down to just two members,former Killing Joke roadie Alex Peterson and Andy Hughes.My prefered cuts are the first two,"Delta MK2" and "Ubiquity" in which I notice in the credits for these two listed is Steve Hillage(Gong,Khan,Arzachel).Hillage must've have co-written the two songs with Peterson and Hughes.I also sort of liked "Passing Of Time" and the extremely far-out sounding "72".A good title,if you enjoy electronic music

Although for the life of me I can never remember the title of these songs if you were to push me, I still think that this album is fantastic. It has a few lightly paranoid edges to it being that the supposed concept was about a world going mad. I've also got a bootleg concert from around this era on cassette. And if you thought that Orblivion was good - this was insane. The tracks were mutated into something else. But to get back to the point, if you're looking for a modern psychedelic trip, then this is the album for you

I purchased this cd after a friend pointed me at the now defunct website. I have to say, it's one of the best cd purchases I've made in quite some time. The sound is somethign I've never experienced before - moving in circles around your head - left to right. Perfect for meditation and relaxation. It spurred me to purchase all of their other studio releases, but this is by far the best.

I bought this CD on December 23, 2001 so I was over four years overdue to experience this CD. To me this CD was absolutely worth the 17 dollars I shelled out.

This 1997 release finds the Orb returning to their edgier more futuristic trademark sound that dominated their first two releases after the weird off-key humor of Pomme Fritz and the earthiness of the exquisit Orbus Terrarum. I would tie this CD with Orbus Terrarum as my third favorite Orb album. To me this CD is better than the slightly dissapointing Cydonia. I love all of the Orbs full length albums. I even enjoy the distorted craziness of Pomme Fritz.

This CD begins with the leadoff track Delta MKII which features a sample of a court hearing of someone being asked if he was part of a communist party and then ultimately morphs into a barrage of crazy sound effects melting with an eerie melody and heavy techno beats. The beat stops with the electronic bleeps continuing and ties with a barrage of pinball machines and pool table arcade sound effects which leads us into the funkiness of Umbiquity. Umbiquity could almost fit well with some of the tracks off the Ultraworld LP. This track is a bit more melodic, more aquatic and darker with bobbling bass lines and stronger ambience with a bit of funkiness added. The song leads us into the slightly earthier Asylum. Asylum is a bit brighter, more ambient, more upbeat and more ravelike. This is one of my favorite songs off Orblivion. We then head into more eerie territory with the joyous Bedouin. Bedouin is warmer and more melodic but yet it has an awesome very quick ambient crescendo. To tell you the truth this is a song that needs listening in order for you to understand how it really sounds. It's a truly fascinating track. The jet sound effects end the song which the sound effect is suddenly interrupted which beings us into the more Pomme Fritz like Molten Love. Molten Love has a much stronger rhythm, with weird beats, and a slightly worldly exotic sounds like Middle Eastern violin strings I hear in the background. But anyway Molten Love is another track that needs listening to understand to really understand how it sounds. There is a one minute noise track called Pi. While I usually dislike these kind of one minute interludes this track is cool. It's very noisy and ends with a weird amplified robotic voice at the ending. After the noisiness of Pi we head into darker territory with the haunting S.A.L.T. This track features someone ranting about the coming apocolypse with very haunting trancey melody in the background. The man talking in the background also mentions about all of the planets aligning on August 18,1999. Well that date has long since past but after he goes frantic S.A.L.T. blasts into an intense but colorful track. After the apocolyptic S.A.L.T. we then head into the track Toxygene. This was the first single off Orblivion. Toxygene starts off with a childrens choir sample before it ends after 25 seconds. The eerie ambient sounds with the low pitched music in the background fading in gives a feel of the world coming to an end. The song then becomes a highly danceable number with aggressive, driving beats and a very futuristic feel like the charachters from The Fifth Element in the year 2214 all gathering for a rave party. This song is the winner on Orblivion. There is one more noise track called Dead of Logwood which I must say is quite cool with the weird voice effects. After that we head into the door where we learn about our very own Secrets by a song of the same name. Secrets begins with a weather forecaster making a blunder while forecasting the weather. The song becomes a very eerie, and another danceable number somewhat similar to Toxygene although this track isn't quite as aggressive but still as powerful. Passing Of Time is deserted city music. It starts with a robotic voice and them gradually morphs into a track that sort of reminds me a bit of O.O.B.E. off the UFOrb although Passing is not as dark and is a bit more urban in sound. The final track 72 is basically 'The Youth of America on LSD'. On the back of the cover of this CD it says this track is 6 seconds long but in reality the track is 11 minutes and 43 seconds long because there is a hidden track. The Hidden Track is a futuristic song with a trancey beat, along with a bobbling bassline. This hidden song needs to be heard to really know how it really sounds. It kind of reminds me of Towers Of Dub of UFOrb. 72 ends the apocolyptic journey of Orblivion.

Orblivion is HIGHLY recommended for all Orb fans. It's truly a creative masterpiece.