Death Above Life

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Death Above Life
Studio album by
Orbit Culture
Released3 October 2025 (2025-10-03)
Genre
Length53:04
LabelCentury Media
ProducerBuster Odeholm
Orbit Culture chronology
Descent
(2023) 		Death Above Life
(2025)
Singles from Death Above Life
  1. "The Tales of War"
    Released: 7 May 2025
  2. "Death Above Life"
    Released: 10 June 2025
  3. "Hydra"
    Released: 29 July 2025
  4. "Nerve"
    Released: 3 September 2025
  5. "Bloodhound"
    Released: 2 October 2025

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]

Background

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The album, consisting of ten songs with a total runtime of approximately fifty-three minutes, was produced by Buster Odeholm. It precedes 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

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Blabbermouth9/10[5]
Kerrang4/5[6]
Metal Hammer[7]
New Noise[8]

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

[edit]

All tracks are written by Niklas Karlsson.

Death Above Life track listing
No.TitleLength
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
Japanese CD bonus track
No.TitleLength
11."Nuclear God"5:09
Total length:58:13

Personnel

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Credits adapted from Tidal.[10]

Orbit Culture

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  • Niklas Karlsson – lead vocals, guitar, co-production, engineering
  • Richard Hansson – guitar
  • Fredrik Lennartsson – bass guitar
  • Christopher Wallerstedt – drums

Additional contributor

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Charts

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Chart performance for Death Above Life
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

References

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  1. ^ a b Garner, Emily (10 June 2025). ""It feels like a rebirth": Orbit Culture announce new album". Kerrang!. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  2. ^ "Orbit Culture Announces New Album Death Above Life, Shares Video For Title Track". Blabbermouth. 10 June 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  3. ^ Adams, Gregory (10 June 2025). "Hear Orbit Culture go "darker, heavier" on new song "Death Above Life"". Revolver. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  4. ^ Weaver, James (10 June 2025). "Orbit Culture announce new album Death Above Life". Distorted Sound. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  5. ^ a b Lawson, Dom (1 October 2025). "Death Above Life". Blabbermouth. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  6. ^ a b Ruskell, Nick (1 October 2025). "Album review: Orbit Culture – Death Above Life". Kerrang!. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b Hill, Stephen (29 September 2025). "If you're going to dive into one metal album this week, you should probably make it Orbit Culture's excellent Death Above Life". Metal Hammer. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  8. ^ a b Radic, Randy (2 October 2025). "Album Review: Orbit Culture – Death Above Life". New Noise. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  9. ^ Pidde, Mirko (2 October 2025). "Orbit Culture – Death Above Life – Melodic Death Metal Review". Metal.de. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  10. ^ "Death Above Life / Orbit Culture / Credits". Tidal. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  11. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Orbit Culture – Death Above Life" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  12. ^ "Ultratop.be – Orbit Culture – Death Above Life" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  13. ^ "Orbit-Culture: Death Above Life" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  14. ^ "Top Albums Physiques (Semaine du 10 octobre 2025)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  15. ^ "Top 100 Rock & Metal Albums de la semaine 41, 2025" [Top 100 Rock & Metal Albums of Week 41, 2025] (in French). Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  16. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Orbit Culture – Death Above Life" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  17. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts Top 20 Rock/Metal-Charts – 10 Oktober 2025" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  18. ^ "Billboard Japan Download Albums – October 8, 2025". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 9 October 2025.
  19. ^ "Oricon Western Albums: October 13, 2025" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
  20. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  21. ^ "Veckolista Album, vecka 41, 2025" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  22. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Orbit Culture – Death Above Life". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 October 2025.
  23. ^ "Official Albums Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  24. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
  25. ^ "Top Album Sales: Week of October 18, 2025". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2025.