Orbit Culture - Misplaced Pages

Swedish melodic death metal band

Orbit Culture
Orbit Culture performing in 2019
Background information
Origin	Eksjö, Sweden
Genres	Melodic death metal, groove metal, symphonic metal
Years active	2013–present

Members	Niklas Karlsson Richard Hansson Fredrik Lennartsson Christopher Wallerstedt

Past members	Christoffer Olsson Maximilian Zinsmeister Markus Bladh

Website	orbitculture.com

Orbit Culture is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Eksjö, formed in 2013. The band includes vocalist/guitarist Niklas Karlsson, guitarist Richard Hansson, bassist Fredrik Lennartsson, and drummer Christopher Wallerstedt. Former band members are lead guitarist Maximilian Zinsmeister, bassist Christoffer Olsson and drummer Markus Bladh. The band has released four studio albums and four EPs.

History

Formation (2013)

Orbit Culture was formed with the idea of the vocalist and rhythm guitarist Niklas Karlsson and ex-guitarist Maximilian Zinsmeister. They met each other through mutual friends at the age of 17 and decided to create a small group. They hired a small rehearsal place in an old power plant station. At that time, Maximilian was currently playing with another local band called Abstract Noise and he recruited Orbit Culture's fellow drummer Markus Bladh and later, Christoffer Olsson joined to play bass guitar.

Odyssey (2013)

Shortly after the band's formation, Karlsson started to write songs for their debut EP and the band spent most of the summer of 2013 recording, mixing, and producing their first set of songs, Odyssey. The production ended on 17 August 2013, and Odyssey was released shortly after. In December that year, the band released the remastered version of their EP with new artwork and the instrumental versions of the songs. The band and their EP gained local interest and they performed their first shows in their hometown.

In Medias Res (2014)

After positive feedback towards Odyssey, the band started production on their first full-length album and released In Medias Res on 23 July 2014. They released a music video for the song "Obscurity" on 31 October 2014.

Maximilian's departure and Rasen (2016)

After promoting In Medias Res through multiple live shows, Zinsmeister decided to leave the band shortly after to focus on his academic studies. The band had teased on social media images and videos of them working on a second full-length album, and on 11 March 2016, their second full-length album Rasen was released. On 25 August 2016, the band released their second music video "Sun of All", which has reached almost 600,000 plays on YouTube. Karlsson commented that things started to heat up in the underground metal community for them after this video.

Olsson's departure and replacement (2016)

Christoffer Olsson decided to leave the band in the late summer of 2016, on account of his studies at university. Concurrently, two new members joined the band; Fredrik Lennartsson on bass guitar and Richard Hansson (Bash Brothers, Straight A's) on lead guitar.

Redfog (2018)

On 8 March 2018, Orbit Culture teased and released the single "Saw". Karlsson revealed plans for an EP titled Redfog, which was released on 6 April 2018. Two more singles were released from the EP before release, "See Through Me" and "Redfog". All three songs were a commercial success, indicated by over a million listens each on multiple streaming platforms. In 2019, Karlsson revealed they were writing a studio album under Seek & Strike Records.

Markus's departure and replacement (2019)

On 11 March 2019, Orbit Culture announced that Markus Bladh felt that the time and effort that the band needed was too much for him and he had decided to leave. Shortly after, they introduced Christopher Wallerstedt as their new drummer who was friends with Richard.

First tour (2019)

In 2019, the band's first booking agency Avocado Booking set them up on their first tour with Rivers of Nihil, Black Crown Initiate and MOL. On 20 September, the band played their first ever show outside Sweden at Cassiopeia, Berlin on the Rivers of Nihil Tour.

Nija (2020)

The band released the first single "Nensha" through Seek & Strike on the same day of their first live show. On 26 February 2020, they released another single and music video called "Rebirth". On 27 March, they released the track "The Shadowing" to finalize the trilogy. The band released their full album Nija on 7 August 2020 and received multiple positive reviews for the record. Karlsson commented on Nija that: "You can expect a fist on your skull that forces you to the ground and exhausts you to ask for more." The deluxe edition of the album was released on 15 January 2021 and included two bonus tracks. They performed a live stream show for the album at Knotfest: Pulse of the Maggots Live Streaming Festival on 13 November 2020. Karlsson has stated his own interests in bands like Metallica, Gojira and Behemoth helped inspire him. He also mentioned: "this album has been the hardest and most difficult set of songs I've ever worked with."

Shaman (2021)

On 24 September 2021, the band released their third EP titled Shaman. Karlsson stated that the track "A Sailor's Tale" was inspired by "Master of Puppets" by Metallica.

Descent and The Forgotten (2023)

On 18 August 2023, the band released their fourth studio album, Descent. Music videos for both singles "From The Inside" and "Vultures of North" debuted under the Seek & Strike label, with a visualizer music video for "Black Mountain" self-released by the band in January of 2024.

Karlsson told Revolver Magazine of Descent that, "We wanted it to be a live-friendly album, but in the end it turned out to be this big-ass darker monster," says Karlsson of the record's light-and-shade duality. "That's what we're pushing for: the highest mountain to the lowest abyss." The album was well-received by critics and audiences, receiving praise and favorable ratings from reviewers including Revolver, Metal Hammer, and Chaoszine.

On 1 December 2023, the band released a three-song EP titled The Forgotten which included two tracks that didn't make the final cut for Descent ("The Upheaval" and "Sound of the Bell") as well as the newly-written song "While We Serve" which the band wrote immediately following their 2023 tour with Avatar while returning to Sweden. Karlsson stated that the EP was a thank-you to their fans for support during the last few years, saying "They are the most dedicated and supportive group of people I've ever seen, and everyone is so lovely and polite. We wouldn't be here without them and this EP is for them."

Century Media Records

Following the release of The Forgotten in December 2023, Orbit Culture announced on social media that they had fulfilled their contractual obligations with Seek & Strike Records and would not be working with the label on future projects. On 18 January 2024, the band announced they had signed a deal with Century Media Records. Century Media Vice President Philipp Schulte said via press release, “Watching Orbit Culture’s rise to becoming one of the greatest new metal bands in the world and now working with them is inspiring. I’ve personally been a fan since the beginning. They are part of both metal and Century Media’s future in a very exciting way.”

Tours

The band was forced to cancel all of their shows in 2020 due to the pandemic of COVID-19, but joined Thy Art Is Murder, MALEVOLENCE, KING 810, and Alpha Wolf for an EU/UK at the end 2021. They were also set to play at John Smith Rock Festival in July 2021, which was also later canceled due to the pandemic. Karlsson had an interview with Dead Press about his and the band's future plans. He mentioned he already had around 40 song ideas and that the band is working on new material. On 27 September 2021, the band announced that the United Talent Agency is now their booking agency worldwide.

On January 19, 2024, the band joined Machine Head on their "SLAUGHTER THE MARTØUR" world tour with a total of 29 concerts in the U.S. and Canada. This first North America leg features Fear Factory, Orbit Culture, and Gates to Hell as support bands.

Following the release of The Forgotten EP, the band announced their first ever EU/UK headline tour, "Descending Into Madness Tour 2024", with the bands Bite Down and Defects as openers.

In April of 2024, Slipknot announced that Orbit Culture would be joining Knocked Loose and Vended as opening bands on their "Here Comes the Pain" tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their self-titled debut album. Orbit Culture announced on social media in May of 2024 that they would be adding additional headlining stops in North America between show dates.