Swedish metallers Orbit Culture are bringing something fresh to the table with their new album Nija. While the band cite heavier influences of Metallica and Gojira, they create their own unique and experimental brand of metal by injecting a wide range of sounds and textures into their music. We caught up with vocalist/guitarist Niklas Karlsson to find out more about Orbit Culture, including their formation, influences and what they aim to achieve.
Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your band.
Hello and thank you for having us. My name is Niklas Karlsson and I play guitar and do vocals in the band Orbit Culture. We are a four-piece metal band from the heart of the Swedish forests, just in the between the cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm.
How did the band form and how long have you been together?
We started out in 2013 as a small jam group with people coming and going. My ex-bandmate and friend Maximilian Zinsmeister and I decided to start this band when we really started to get into recording. We wrote a bunch of songs, recruited ex-bassist Christoffer Olsson and ex-drummer Markus Bladh and so was Orbit Culture born. However, the line-up has changed quite a bit throughout years, I’m the only original member left in the band, but it feels like we are the band now that we needed to be with Christopher Wallerstedt, Fredrik Lennartsson and Richard Hansson.
Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?
I think it was around the time when I found out about Guitar Pro, the tablature software. I played guitar quite a bit before that, but when I found that software I really started to get into writing. Of course, all the songs sucked big time, haha, but from that point, when creating music, even though it was purely MIDI-based when it comes to the sounds, I knew that it was what I wanted to do.
Who and what are the band’s main influences?
It changes quite a bit all the time, but in general and for the longest time it definitely has always been Metallica and Gojira, I think it’s very obvious in our music. Those bands do most things perfect, for me personally. Everything when it comes to the music, the visuals and the aggressiveness.
What do you aim to achieve as a band?
We just want to be able to tour and play shows everywhere we can, meet our fans and record great albums. And in that, hopefully make a living out of it and support our families.
For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from an Orbit Culture show?
You can expect a well-oiled machinery with flavours of bands like Metallica, Gojira, Meshuggah, Static-X and more combined into this wall of violent sound. Don’t miss out on us!
What’s next for Orbit Culture?
In the time we’re writing this, we’re just two days away from releasing our upcoming new album Nija, so we are very excited for that. Due to the Coronavirus we won’t be able to promote it properly on the road yet, but we’ll do our best to get it out there for the fans. Other than that, I’m writing music all the time so we’ll see, maybe there’s an EP on its way for next year.
Orbit Culture‘s new album Nija is out now via Seek & Strike, available to stream HERE and purchase HERE.
