Orthodox’s A Door Left Open is an unsettling, genre-bending journey through heaviness, dissonance, and raw emotion. Drawing from metalcore, nu-metal, hardcore, and touches of deathcore, this album pushes the limits of structure and cohesion, sometimes to a fault—but almost always with purpose. The result is a dense, unpredictable, and often punishing release that captures a band in the middle of transformation, wielding chaos and groove like sharpened weapons.

From the start, it's clear Orthodox isn't here to play by any set rules. Their sound is defined by jagged, off-kilter rhythms and dissonant guitar riffs that slice and grind with deliberate discomfort. There’s a constant tension between groove and collapse—songs flirt with breakdowns, lean into two-step riffs, and then swerve into experimental or deliberately jarring territory. It’s chaotic, but never careless. You get the sense the band wants you to feel off-balance, like the ground is shifting beneath your feet at all times.

The drumming across the record plays a massive role in that unsteady feeling. It’s aggressive and tight, but often intentionally erratic—favoring strange accents, sudden tempo changes, and off-beat grooves that subvert expectations. At times, the intensity of the percussion threatens to derail the structure of a track, making some moments feel cluttered or hard to follow. But when it locks in—especially on the back half of the album—it hits with punishing clarity.

Vocally, A Door Left Open delivers a raw, guttural performance that remains emotionally convincing throughout. The lead screams are gritty and harsh, with a strained texture that feels deeply human rather than hyper-polished. There’s also a growing presence of clean vocals, used sparingly but powerfully—especially in moments of contrast, like haunting choruses or hypnotic closing passages. Features like Matt McDougal and Brann Dailor (of Mastodon) add dynamic layers that help deepen the sonic palette. The guest spots bring in tinges of deathcore and progressive metal, fitting seamlessly into the chaos without diluting Orthodox’s identity.

Thematically, the album seems to wrestle with emotional torment, internal conflict, and spiritual questioning. There’s a claustrophobic weight to the sound, with lyrics and vocal delivery that evoke frustration, grief, and fury. But Orthodox doesn’t just blast through these feelings—they let them simmer. Slower, sludgy sections reveal a band willing to dwell in uncomfortable places. The closing track, with its dreamy, almost shoegaze-like ending, offers a brief moment of peace and vulnerability, revealing just how much depth there is behind the aggression.

Production-wise, A Door Left Open is gritty but precise. The mix gives every instrument its space. The bass, in particular, shines on several tracks with a thick, resonant tone that adds a subterranean heaviness to the arrangements. Guitar tones are crunchy and abrasive, but there are moments of surprising clarity—especially in eerie clean sections and off-kilter leads that sound like industrial signals or electronic glitches. It’s not polished in a traditional sense, but it’s not meant to be. The texture and feel of the record match its themes: raw, anxious, and a bit haunted.

While the record is bursting with powerful moments, its biggest flaw may be its inconsistency in structure. Some songs shift direction so quickly that they lose cohesion, and a few transitions feel more like sudden jumps than intentional shifts. The first half of the album in particular struggles with pacing, occasionally sacrificing flow for intensity. But once the album hits its stride—around the midpoint—it becomes clear that this instability is part of the point. A Door Left Open isn’t supposed to be easy or comfortable. It’s about disorientation, tension, and release.

Still, Orthodox finds plenty of moments to lean into groove and riff-based satisfaction. When the band locks in, it’s undeniable—channeling the spirit of Slipknot’s early aggression, the grind of nu-metalcore hybrids, and the dissonant edge of acts like Botch or Vein.fm. It’s visceral, ugly, and urgent in the best way.

In the current wave of heavy music, where many bands either go full-metalcore gloss or experimental abstraction, Orthodox stands in the grey zone—unafraid to be disjointed, weird, emotional, and devastatingly heavy. A Door Left Open might not be the cleanest or most accessible release, but it’s a brutally honest one. It's the sound of a band expanding their identity, digging through the noise, and daring to leave the door open—for better or worse.

RATING: 7/10