We've been outspoken champions of Sweden's Orbit Culture for a while now, so we were very stoked when, earlier this year, the band unleashed "Mute the Silent" — a top-notch bonus track on the deluxe reissue of their latest album, Nija — which promptly landed on our list of the 30 Best Songs of 2021 So Far. Now, the group, led by vocalist-guitarist Niklas Karlsson, have announced a new EP, the five-track Shaman. It's due out September 24th and available for pre-order now, but today (July 22nd), Orbit Culture have teamed with Revolver to premiere the dramatic performance video for lead cut "Flight of the Fireflies." Despite the delicate beauty of the titular insects, the song is nothing if not brutal, packed with death-metal pummel and anthemic epicness that evokes Karlsson's heroes in Gojira. Listen and watch above.
"Our brand new track and first single, 'Flight of the Fireflies,' from our upcoming EP Shaman, has all the ingredients needed for an Orbit Culture song, but with an upgraded muscle to it in all departments," Karlsson tells us. "The riffs, the growls, the chorus and the twist.
"When it comes to the lyrics and the message of this song, I, especially during the pandemic, found that my consumption of alcohol rose, as I suppose it did for many people, and what it did to both my physical and mental health was not preferable at all. During one night last year, I came home from a night out and just poured out every word about how I've felt about myself and the relationship with alcohol, and I get it, I truly do, the search for something that makes you turn off the engine for a while, but for some of us, the chase and that feeling never stops, whether you like drugs, gambling, alcohol, bowling or whatever it might be. I still enjoy drinking from time to time, but I try to keep it very controlled nowadays. It's a very sneaky drug which in the long run hurts more than it pleases and there's an abyss in that world I'd never like to visit. That's where 'Flight of the Fireflies' kicks in. You are trying to chase the lights in the dark but eventually those small lights go away if you chase them for too long.
"The EP's title and the artwork came about by me sitting down and trying out different titles of what would look pleasing to me, pretty much the same way the title Nija was created. The word Shaman came up and the ideas just started pouring out. We came up with this fictional story where a shaman 'collects' or 'chains' people by inviting them to try his drugs in deep jungles. This story is covered deepest in the third track 'Carvings' on the EP. The story serves as a metaphor of being stuck in your mind after consuming substances that welcome your mind with open arms only to be taken and locked away by the same substance."
