#223 | Album Review | Orphan Donor – Unraveled

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:33:43 — 214.5MB)

Hope things are going smooth, orphans of the infinite void! Prepare your earholes for some more nonsensical ramblings from Ryan and myself (Bear-snack Benson). In this week’s episode, we unroll our slobbery tongues to chat in detail about Orphan Donor’s latest opus, Unraveled.

Unraveled is a flurry of excoriating grindcore burdened with leaden sludge, corrosive dissonance, and a strident belligerence a la screamo. Founded sometime in 2010 by Jared Stimpfl—the drummer of Secret Cutter—Orphan Donor has amassed a modest body of work with a handful of musicians contributing throughout its lifespan. Most recently, Chris Pandolfo of Clouds Collide has taken on vocal duties for both Unraveled and Orphan Donor’s 2020 record, Old Patterns. Although we had not heard of Chris’s project prior to experiencing Orphan Donor, he catapults the emotional tumultuousness of Unraveled to altitudes seldom felt. Anguished shrieks often slice against cudgeling percussion and walls of writhing bass. Yet every so often a melody will spasm, or a surge of catharsis will unfurl. Most poignant, however, are the lyrics that reflect upon the passing of Jared’s father in his youth.

We had a bunch to say about Unraveled, particularly the lyrics and how they sharpen the intensity of the instrumental arrangements. I wish I could punch myself in the teeth the next time I describe guitar sounds as “skronk” because I said that one too many times during the episode. At any rate, we hope you enjoy the rambles in this one. Thank you for tuning in!

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You can purchase Unraveled digitally via Orphan Donor’s Bandcamp page. There’s also a pretty fucking sweet-looking poster/print related to the album artwork for sale. You can find various physical formats of Orphan Donor’s work via Zegema Beach Records. Also, be sure to follow the project on Facebook and Instagram to stay in-the-loop on new developments.

If you’d like to support us beyond listening to our podcast, you can do so by becoming a patron on our Patreon page where you can read all of the notes we typed in preparation for album reviews and gain early access to upcoming episodes before their official release. If Patreon isn’t your jam, we recently set up an FCU Venmo account (@From-Corners-Unknown) and a Ko-Fi account in case you want to support us via other channels.

In two weeks, we’ll be dropping a review of Desolate, the monstrous new record from Iceland’s tech-death quintet, Ophidian I.