One of the best bands in the rapidly recovering New Orleans music scene, Alias:Orion hits the senses like a combination of Queensrÿche's prog-metal mastery and Wolfsheim's Germanic space shenanigans.
Try this for a mental image: The Millennium Falcon is about to make the jump to light speed. Just as it does, someone climbs out onto the top and begins to play a blistering guitar solo that incinerates the pursuing Imperial fighters. That about sums up "StarDuster," the track that heralds A:O's three-act cycle of EPs on epic, unwinnable wars called, appropriately, The StarDuster Saga. Part 1 has already been released, with the second and third installments due any minute.
In the meantime, Alias:Orion has embarked on a small tour that brings the group across the swamps to H-Town; thank Odin that low gas prices are helping re-form the bond between the two cities. Perhaps with the intermingling between these two dynamic music scenes, we shall truly see the South rise again. Until that day comes, you can catch Alias:Orion and the very different — but equally out of this world — acousti-nuts Devil Killing Moth at Notsuoh, and let your brain melt like you mistook the Loc-Nar for a jawbreaker.
OffBeat Magazine Review
By Rob Fontenot
Indie arena rock? Well, why not?
The five tunes on these locals’ debut EP swell to stadium size, yet could conceivably speak to an entire generation of post-emo, post-radio, post-everything millennials ready to demolish the old barriers keeping guitar/keyboard rock stagnant.
These tunes sound like they were weaned on the energy and suburban ennui of pop-punk and then fed into the industry-less free-fall of 21st Century America. They therefore utilize big, showy, classic rock moves in order to better dredge up the loathing—mostly romantic, of course—not exactly well-hidden in conversational lyrics like “I hope this message reaches you well and leaves you crippled / I hope it kills you / I hope you choke on it.”
It’s finally okay to feel good about the future of local pop-rock nrrrddom.
POP-ROCK UPSTARTS ALIAS:ORION FOLLOWUP ACCLAIMED DEBUT, “WHILE THE CITY BURNED,” WITH NATIONWIDE TOUR
Quickly conquering post-Katrina New Orleans’ burgeoning pop-rock scene, the five veterans of Alias:Orion – so dubbed after a period of indecision about the perfect name – take their perfectionist streak to the outside world with their acclaimed debut EP, While The City Burned, and the new nationwide tour to support it.
Rising from the ashes of a handful of local favorites, the five black-clad members of Orion play music as emotionally dark as their stage gear yet as recognizable as the radio. “Indie arena rock” is the term Robert Fontenot of the Crescent City’s premiere music magazine, Offbeat, has coined for their new sound: “These five tunes swell to stadium size yet speak to an entire generation of post-emo, post-radio, post-everything millenials ready to demolish the old barriers that keep guitar/keyboard rock stagnant.”
Founders Anthony Schultz and Thomas DeVille embrace that aesthetic: “While I don't think we sound much like it, I think a great deal of our spirit is probably that of what is commonly considered "classic rock,” says DeVille, adding, ”We have little interest in any movements that could potentially result in, through seemingly thoughtless and unimaginative labeling, the debasement of the uniqueness of our sound.” It’s an attitude that – along with their sonically potent yet militarily precise live show, has booked them at venues across the country, an unheard-of turn of events for a band that wasn’t even on stage six months ago. Look for the debut album by Alias:Orion in early 2009; in the meantime, you can catch them in concert, burning down a city near you.
– Keith Janus
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