Death Above Life
2025 studio album by Orbit Culture
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Death Above Life is the fifth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Orbit Culture. It was released on 3 October 2025, via Century Media in LP, CD and digital formats.[1]
| Death Above Life | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 3 October 2025 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 53:04 | |||
| Label | Century Media | |||
| Producer | Buster Odeholm | |||
| Orbit Culture chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Death Above Life | ||||
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Background
The album, consisting of ten songs with a total runtime of approximately fifty-three minutes, was produced by Buster Odeholm. It follows the band's 2023 full-length release, Descent. The band vocalist Niklas Karlsson noted about the album, "It brings up a lot of good and bad emotions but it's a big change for the better. It feels like a rebirth."[2]
The title track was released as a single on 10 June 2025,[3][1] alongside a music video.[4]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Blabbermouth | 9/10[5] |
| Kerrang | 4/5[6] |
| Metal Hammer |   [7] |
| New Noise | [8] |
The album received positive reviews, Nick Ruskell of Kerrang! remarked, "Death Above Life feels like they're hauling themselves into the next weight category," giving the album a rating of four.[6] Blabbermouth's Dom Lawson assigned it a rating of nine, describing it as "so powerful and distinctive that it should make peddlers of cookie-cutter mainstream metal feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves."[5]
In a four-star review for Metal Hammer, Stephen Hill stated, "So much of Death Above Life is utterly thrilling. "The Tales of War" is Meshuggah-style death metal boom and burst; "Hydra" features some utterly breathtaking half-time headbanging grooves; and the title track's, stomping, crushing tech metal will immediately weasel its way into your mind."[7]
Randy Radic of New Noise gave the album a four-star rating, referring to it as "a 10-track collection of songs both substantial and full of looming shadows," and opining "With Death Above Life, Orbit Culture demonstrates their ability to not only evolve but maintain full command of their development."[8] Writing for Metal.de, Mirko Pidde opined, "The record could have used a little more variety and the somewhat too well-intentioned loudness is negative here and there, but ultimately Death Above Life has become a damn strong death metal album that every open-minded metalhead should have on their list."[9]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Niklas Karlsson.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Inferna" | 6:43 |
| 2. | "Bloodhound" | 5:02 |
| 3. | "Inside the Waves" | 4:37 |
| 4. | "The Tales of War" | 5:08 |
| 5. | "Hydra" | 4:47 |
| 6. | "Nerve" | 5:52 |
| 7. | "Death Above Life" | 5:29 |
| 8. | "The Storm" | 4:13 |
| 9. | "Neural Collapse" | 6:19 |
| 10. | "The Path I Walk" | 4:54 |
| Total length: | 53:04 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Nuclear God" | 5:09 |
| Total length: | 58:13 | |
Personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal.[10]
Orbit Culture
- Niklas Karlsson – lead vocals, guitar, co-production, engineering
- Richard Hansson – guitar
- Fredrik Lennartsson – bass guitar
- Christopher Wallerstedt – drums
Additional contributor
Charts
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11] | 9 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[12] | 49 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[13] | 18 |
| French Physical Albums (SNEP)[14] | 72 |
| French Rock & Metal Albums (SNEP)[15] | 18 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] | 13 |
| German Rock & Metal Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] | 3 |
| Japanese Download Albums (Billboard Japan)[18] | 99 |
| Japanese Western Albums (Oricon)[19] | 29 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[20] | 75 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[21] | 13 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] | 24 |
| UK Albums Sales (OCC)[23] | 30 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[24] | 1 |
| US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[25] | 40 |