ORBIT CULTURE is a band poised. The Swedish quartet’s Century Media debut, Death Above Life “, is not merely a statement of how far the band has come, but it is the sound of metal in the most modern sense. ”This record represents change, a new beginning,” says ORBIT CULTURE guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Niklas Karlsson. “It brings up a lot of good and bad emotions but it’s a big change for the better. It feels like a rebirth.”

Already, ORBIT CULTURE has distinguished themselves with a steady stream of jaw-dropping albums including 2023’s Descent and its 2021 predecessor Nija. They’ve seized stages with the likes of Slipknot, Knocked Loose and Trivium, blown away festival crowds with their layered, melodic death metal scraping sound and won “Next Big Thing” status in a way even the most promising outfits can’t approach. Death Above Life lifts ORBIT CULTURE’s years of hard work with a sharpened songwriting edge and swaggering confidence. From the album’s scorching opener, “Inferna” to its clench-fisted title track to the elegiac closer, “The Path I Walk”, It’s clear: ORBIT CULTURE is at the top of their game.

Despite coming from a country rich in metal history, ORBIT CULTURE’s story is one of isolated teens in the rural town of Eksjö, Sweden, making music surrounded by dense, Scandinavian woods and winter gloom. “It’s dark and cold all the time and the only thing you have is snow and streetlights,” says Niklas. Inspired by a steady diet of Metallica, Gojia and Static-X, Karlsson found an outlet that would eventually become an obsession. “We were small-town kids from nowhere,” he says. “We were never part of a scene or anything, so we had to do it ourselves. We’re still very much of a ‘Do It Yourself’ kind of band. I tried to learn as much as I could during those formative years.” Learning programs like Qbase and utilizing homespun tools, the sound of ORBIT CULTURE began as most bands do: rough-hewn but bursting with ideas.. “I used my sister’s SingStar microphone!” the frontman laughs.