The Grand Power Metal Order of Orden Ogan

Power metal titans Orden Ogan has released their new album The Order of Fear via Reigning Phoenix Music!  An absolutely devastating addition to the ongoing legacy of Alister Vale, Orden Ogan is at the very height of their creative prowess with their latest recording.  Now finding themselves within the ranks of Reigning Phoenix Music, Orden Ogan has been playing shows across Europe this summer in support of The Order of Fear.  Prior the release of their latest manifesto, vocalist Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann spoke with Highwire Daze about The Order of Fear and other highlights from a vast and epic career in music.  Read on…

Is there any overall story or concept behind the new album, The Order of Fear?
There’s actually an ongoing concept since the beginning of time, if you want. Our main character, Alister Vale, who is responsible for the name of Vale, the record that we released as our debut record in 2008. There’s different info in the internet, but we count the history of Orden Ogan from 2008 on, because that was when we signed the record contract and worked with booking agencies and everything. So everything got professional before it was just like some pupils hanging out, making music, you know.

Alister Vale is actually an aristocrat and he’s ruling an empire with a circle of other aristocrats, but a lot of stuff is going absolutely wrong. So back in the day he decided to destroy the circle. The big problem is that, yeah, it worked but he got cursed by one of the guys. The curse says that he basically has to keep walking forever more. He cannot stay at one place for very long. And also everything that he leaves behind somehow decays or dies behind him. So people don’t necessarily have to die, but something bad is going to happen once he leaves the place.

So, over all these years, he’s actually looking for a solution for his problem. Then he arrives at a monastery called Ravenhead, on the record Ravenhead, that we released in 2015. That is the home to the monks of the Orden Ogan. He thinks that he can get help there and get answers and the only thing that they basically tell him after he has made a very bad deal is that he has to go and find the eldest of the order and they are in another place, so he keeps searching. Through Gunmen and Final Days (the other two records that came after Ravenhead and before The Order of Fear), now he finally finds the eldest of this Orden. Orden Ogan is: Orden is the German word for order and Ogan is old Celtic for fear. So it basically says the same.

And yeah, he finds these guys and they tell him that the only thing that can help to break the curse is to do something that is even more sinister than what was done to him. So, they say he has to shed the blood of a true friend in the moonlight. He’s got his only friend, the name’s Abel, the guy who follows him since Easton Hope, the record in 2010. And then there’s this philosophical question about the good of many versus the good of one, or like the bad fate for one versus the bad fate of many people.  Vale thinks about it for a little bit, and then he’s basically beheading his friend in the moonlight. Shortly after, he realizes surprise, surprise, that he was betrayed by the monks because they’re actually a very, very old evil order. And the only thing that he basically did was he took part in a ritual that amplified his curse. So it got even worse because the monks of the Orden Ogan, The Order of Fear, they wanted to use his curse against mankind to destroy mankind. So that’s the the plot so far.

You’re on a new label, Reigning Phoenix Music, after being signed at AFM for quite a while. What made you decide to switch record labels at this point?
There are contracts and sometimes contracts are done, and you have done everything within the contract, so we have to look for a new one. And in our case, it was basically, I do not think there are so many options for us in Germany that would actually make sense to work with, there would have been Nuclear Blast, but Nuclear Blast is basically the same overall company as AFM Records. We had a very good deal from Napalm Records, we might have ended up going with Napalm Records.

But in RPM, it’s basically a lot of the old Nuclear Blast guys, because the biggest part of it is Atomic Fire, that basically came out of the ashes of Nuclear Blast if you want. Or after not the ashes, but after the company had been sold. So there are a lot of old people that have been working for Nuclear Blast for a while. Also the label CEO and the label manager are the people that I have worked with in AFM for a very long time. And we have got a very intense friendship and know each other for a long time and have developed all these plans and made Orden Ogan to what it is today together. So it seemed to be the obvious choice.

I’ve interviewed Doro a few times and she’s just a ball of energy. She’s wonderful. You co-headlining with Doro. What are you looking forward to the most about that show and have you ever played with Doro before?
I think we’ve played with her before, but I’ve never really spoken to her. But that is mainly because I would consider myself more or less being an introvert, you know? Like I don’t like to go to people and talk to people if I’m not sure that they actually want to talk to me. You know what I mean? It’s like I just stay away from people if I don’t know for sure that they’re interested in having a conversation with people.

So, no, she’s great. I mean, she’s doing this for so long and she’s still active and going. So that’s just something everyone, like every new artist or younger bands can look up to, to having a career that lasts that long and works so great. So, it’s awesome to see that she’s still there and doing what she does. She’s still super successful. But yeah, let’s see, maybe we have the chance to have a little chat next week.

You made a guest appearance on the Brainstorm album Wall of Skulls. What was that experience like and did you keep in touch with Brainstorm?
Yeah, actually, as we speak, they’re sitting in the room over there because we’re working on the third record that we do together. You might know I’m a music producer myself, record producer. So, it’s the third record we worked on together. Also back then, that was more like a friendship thing. It was like, “Could you think of singing one of our songs?” I was like, “Yeah, sure, of course, I would love to.” So, we did that. They’re really great, they’re some of the best guys you will ever meet in the whole scene. Like super relaxed, super down to earth. Like normal, super nice people.

And then another legendary band that you worked with was Grave Digger. What was that experience like and do you still keep in touch with them?
Yeah, I mean, I didn’t work with Grave Digger in the studio or something. I think we had the guest appearance of Chris Boltendahl on the Ravenhead record back in 2015. We played a couple of shows together. Actually, we wanted to tour together for the Orden Ogan headlining tour in 2021 or something. Basically in the middle of the pandemic where no shows were possible. So we had to postpone that. Back then the billing would have been Orden Ogan, Grave Digger and Rage. So that would have been like a nice German power metal package. But yeah, due to the pandemic it didn’t happen. But I would say we’re like in a friendly contact every now and then. Also our former guitar player, Toby (Tobias Kersting) is now the new guitar player in Grave Digger. So that makes it a little bit like family.

Has Orden Ogan ever played out here in the States, or is that something you would like to do in the future?
We have been to ProgPower USA two times so far. We also have done the 70,000 Tons of Metal. But we didn’t do a full tour in the States yet because for some reason, I don’t even get it, but for some reason we-, I mean this is nothing that we actually pushed a lot ourselves because we know it’s a difficult market and you have to go over there very often, and everything just really has to make sense. I think like strategy wise, it would be wise to go and be support like one or two bigger tours before you go out in the States on your own. So, we’re still open to that. But so far, nothing has really worked out that could have been a thing. So, there were a lot of discussions. But like I said, it has to make sense. It’s about a lot of money. Because you will need a lot of money to make that happen. And I would just do that if it really makes sense.

Seeb of Orden Ogan on Zoom!

What is currently going on with Angus McSix and how did you become involved with that band?
Basically, it was just that I read online that Tom was fired from Gloryhammer – and I’ve seen the band live a couple of times and I thought he’s a phenomenal singer, phenomenal entertainer and it was just a pity that it looked like he would disappear from the radar. So, it was actually me who reached out to him back then and asked, “Okay, do you want to do something new?” And so yeah, it is our project. Right now, we’re on a little bit like a hiatus, if that’s the word, because Tom basically, became a dad and he’s taking off a lot of time for his family and also his job and everything. But we’re not in a hurry or anything, we got the new Orden Ogan record coming and maybe there would be new Angus McSix record next year but we’ll see.

Would you like to do an Orden Ogan and Friends version with The Order of Fear like you did with Final Days?
Yeah, I mean the Orden Ogan and Friends version, that was actually just meant to be a bonus for a re-release of Final Days and some people mistook that for being a new record or something. It was born during the pandemic because everyone was at home and nobody had something to do, you know? Basically, when I contacted the people, everybody was happy that they actually could do something. Because nobody could play any shows and do anything. So that was nice back then. But I don’t think it would be a good move to do that again now with The Order of Fear. Maybe in a few years or something. But for now, it’s just fine. I think The Order of Fear is a really good record. So it can totally stand on its own for now.

Ken: For now. Okay, cool. All right, are you currently involved with any other bands or projects outside of Orden Ogan and Angus McSix?
I’m working in the studio a lot. I just finished the new Rhapsody of Fire record. I think they have already released a couple of singles, maybe even the record is already out, I don’t even know. And I’m working with Brainstorm right now. There will be something else coming up that is more of an in-house project because I’m a huge Death Metal fan and I wanted to do a Death Metal record all the time, since I don’t know, like 2010 or something we started to write the first songs. And now finally I got a great lineup and everything and also it looks like a very nice record deal. So yeah, there will be a Death Metal record coming as well, but I cannot tell you more at this point.

Do you have any messages for Orden Ogan fans out here in the States who are reading this right now?
The only thing I really want to say is thank you to everybody who listens to Orden Ogan and buys the CDs, streams us on Spotify, looks at the videos on YouTube, because these people are actually what keeps metal alive. If it weren’t for them, we couldn’t do what we’re actually doing. So, the only thing I always want to say is thank you for checking out Orden Ogan.  The only thing I might add is that our record company always says we suck at social media, so please go out if you like Orden Ogan go out to Instagram and Facebook and like the band and yeah, that’s that.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

ORDEN OGAN are:
Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann | vocals
Niels Löffler | guitars
Patrick Sperling | guitars
Steven Wussow | bass
Dirk Meyer-Berhorn | drums

Orden Ogan Official Home Page