Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio – Cocktails, Carnage, Crucifixion And Pornography

Already the fifth album of Ordo, in a career spanning ten years now. After a superficial first listening turn I was a little disappointed. Nothing new under the sun, and a little less catchy songs than on previous albums. But luckily, after listening more closely, I can appreciate this new release a lot and even hear some new elements. The basics remain unaltered. The monotonous melodies, the solemn atmosphere, tranquil ritual percussion, clear acoustic guitars, soft female voices and the half-spoken vocals of Pettersson, preaching his sexual/hedonistic prayer about power, desire, stockings, wine and other pleasures. The photos in the booklet show as usual a variety of erotic-fetish imagery. References to the previous “Make love and war” album are also abundant, with sentences like ‘we are uniformed and naked/in the rising of today’. Decadent Rome is visited in ‘Remember Depravity, And the Orgies of Rome’, while two tracks later we are situated amongst flaming ruins.

“Cocktails, Carnage, Crucifixion And Pornography”, which starts and ends with a choir singing the former Russian hymn, adds some new classic songs to the Ordo repertoire. The most striking song is ‘Tango for the Concession of the Suspender Princess’, which sounds remarkably warm and southern, mostly through the irrestible accordion melody. The album shows a richer instrumentarium than in the past, with flutes, piano and strings. Another highlight is ‘In High Heels Through Nights Of Broken Glass’, a fine romantic waltz. Despite the constant declamating of the word ‘sex’, ‘Eucharist -Liturgy Of 6’ doesn’t really come to a climax. Luckily it is followed by the beautiful ‘Mary Dances In The Shadows The Holiest Of Harlots’, in her white stockings.
Another album with pleasing songs filled with obsessions, suited to celebrate the Ordo anniversary.

‘We dance in nights of broken glass
where stars collide and dreams collapse…’

artist: Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio
label: Cold Meat Industry
details: 13 tracks. cmi124 (2003)