Knock knock ! Here comes Orso, which means bear in Italian. It is also the name of the Lausanne rock-metal band Orso. Born again from the ashes of bands such as Kruger or June DeVille, walking down solitary lowlands and forests, the bear Orso knows no tamer or master. This is why the band doesn’t have a singer. Try to approach the animal. But if he sees you, don’t move, or you might provoke his wildest instincts. The slow, thick and massive music of Orso – three guitars, a bass and drums – is tainted with dark melancholia. Who has never seen a lonely and sad white bear in a program about climate change? There is brutal and cathartic strength in Orso too. Take a bear as a symbol of this toughness, or rather, imagine a bear that is kept in a museum : stuffed, teeth out and in a terrifying posture. When winter comes, a bear is strong enough to wait for his time at the heart of the white nature. He then shares his soul with the animals of the far north and Swedish bands such as Breach, Terra Tenebrosa, Cult of Luna, Entombed or Neurosis, all which inspire Orso. No misunderstanding here: despite still, the bear Orso quickly becomes a wild king again. This is how he will haunt you after a concert. After a first EP in 2016, «Primi Piatti», Orso comes out of the woods again with a new album «Paninoteca» (2018) under the Basel based label Czar of Bullets. Food is again at the centre of the fierce appetite of Orso’s band members: Raul (guitar), Margo (guitar), Blaise (guitar), Etienne (bass), Thomas (drums). The ten tracks all have names of sandwiches such as Sloppy Joe, Mitraillette or Jambon-beurre but don’t allow irony: because when threatened by the built environment of man, a bear always approaches cities to find his food. Beware.
