Blackened Death Metal band Orobas formed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in early 2015 by the drummer Hephaestus and they released their debut EP, Arise In Impurity, in 2016. Musically they are heavily influenced by bands such as Venom, Mayhem, Beherit and Behemoth and take lyrical inspiration from subjects such as the Occult, Mythology and Anti-religion.
Orobas
Words: Jools Green
Fast forward to 2019, a busy year and a turning point for Orobas. They recorded their second EP, Resplendent Realms Of The Mahatala, with the lineup consisting of Hephaestus and Beleth, with Desekrator as a guest vocalist. It wasn’t released until 2021, and Hephaestus had also moved to Denmark to pursue his academic studies in 2019, relocating Orobas to Kolding. They then released a single, Rise Thy Unholy, at the end of the same year.
With a fresh new lineup, Orobas recently released their latest single in April this year, Upholding The Asuric Traditions, a crushing brute of a track which closely follows the sound of the earlier material. But it’s richer and denser, and the lead work in the second half is sublime.
The CD also has a cover of Mayhem’s Deathcrush as a bonus track, which I love. It holds true to the original but also puts a bit of an Orobas slant on the overall sound, in a similar manner to their cover of Venom’s Black Metal on Arise In Impurity. 
We reached out to Hephaestus, who impressively can speak six languages, about the logistics involved with relocating Orobas. Hephaestus said the recent single and Mayhem cover featured their former guitarist playing bass, but now the lineup is solid.
“Now we have a new bass player who has joined Orobas in the beginning of this year and is playing gigs with us and working for the album as well,” Hephaestus told us.
Finding the right people for the new reincarnation of Orobas in Denmark was a difficult process. “In Kolding, we are the only Blackened Death Metal band,” Hephaestus said. “There are a small number of Metalheads, even though it’s the eighth largest city in Denmark. I started searching for musicians at the end of 2019, and it took me three years to find all three of them; Svarun on guitars, Antares covering vocals and Sytry on bass. Some of us are living outside Kolding, but luckily, we all live in Denmark and rehearse in Kolding. Nonetheless, I consider this as a stable lineup.”
With no local scene to speak of, you wonder where their target audience is located in terms of live performances. “Oh, all over the world,” Hephaestus said. “Right now, we are taking shows in Europe, mainly in the countries nearby. When we have a couple of albums, we have a plan to play in countries further away.”
Hephaestus confirmed that it also includes the UK. The good news is that Orobas have almost completed writing the new album. “All the tracks are new except the single we already have released,” Hephaestus said, “but that single will obviously be re-recorded. Our plan is to start recording the album in September this year.
“The album title was decided long ago. It’s better I don’t reveal it until the artwork is done and unleashed, but I would say it is something related to the destruction of different places of worshipping unknown gods and goddesses.
“We’ve tried our best to keep some variations in the songs so that it’s not gonna sound monotonous. There won’t be any drastic change in the sound due to the lineup change after the relocation. It should sound as how Orobas should sound as a Blackened Death Metal band holding the same theme that they had at the beginning of the journey.”
I am looking forward to hearing it when the time comes.
Upholding The Asuric Traditions was released online on December 30, 2022, and released on CD on April 21, 2023, along with a Mayhem cover as a limited-edition CD (200 copies) via Slaughterhouse Records (USA).
If you are interested, contact Orobas via their Facebook page or purchase here.
