A nasty, vicious collection of songs, performed by a group of musicians that forge a wholly unique sonic path. With trumpets.
Release date: May 11, 2026 | Zegema Beach Records | Bandcamp | Instagram
I’m not sure if it’s due to my decision to jump off the Spotify ship, or if it was just because some friends of mine were doing it for a while, but, this year, I finally decided to track my listening habits and impressions. This, in turn, has made me pay a lot more attention to not just what I like, but also why I like it. And that’s why, when I found myself hitting play for the eight time in a row on Orphan Donor’s 2025 song, “Vomit in the Cathedral of Nous”, I knew I had to write a review of their next full length record once it’s finally out.
You see, Orphan Donor is one of those rare bands that I don’t really understand; but I just get them. And I need to understand things, so I had to take the time and obsess over this record. Now, don’t get me wrong, that was a real easy task. Their new album, Ailments, grabbed me from the first listen, and hasn’t let me go since. But what is it about it that pulled my head straight into its orbit and kept me there, in a hypnotized awe, likely for the foreseeable future?
Well, it’s not because it’s an obvious band for me to like, I can tell you that. I’m not sure what the platonic ideal of an Orphan Donor fan is, because I don’t really know how to categorize what they play. They call it metallic skramz, and list influences like Pg. 99 and Jerome’s Dream on their Bandcamp profile, but I don’t really think that hits the spot. They also list KEN mode in there, which makes a bit more sense, but it’s still a far cry from painting a helpful sonic picture.
What Ailments really sounds like, to my ears, is a combination of no-wave, free jazz, sludge, noise-rock, grindcore, and, yes, some skramz influences, all blended together into a cohesive, utterly unique sound. I think that’s what makes it so appealing to me – I can’t just say it sounds like X or Y and move on. It’s a musical riddle my mind keeps anxiously trying to chip away at. It reminds me of bands like Cattlepress or Gasp, not really in how it sounds, but just in how uncharacterizable it is. I don’t know any other band that sounds like Orphan Donor, and that is such a rare thing to say as a heavy music fan in 2026.
Actually, it’s easier for me to describe Ailments as an image, rather than a sound. On this record, Orphan Donor is a heaving, lumbering lump of organic sound matter, moving along like a giant deformed creature floating down a river of molten lava. And that perfect mental image owes a huge deal to James Revelle, the artist responsible for the band’s unique visual identity since 2020. Think Mike Diana on a bad acid trip; not the go-to art direction for a self prescribed skramz band, but nothing that Orphan Donor does is run of the mill. And that becomes crystal clear once you hit play.
Starting off innocently with lightly strummed guitars; a distant, forlorn trumpet; and tom and cymbal drums, the record then quickly pulls the rug on the second song, “Lampmaster”. The guitar now plays a queasy, anxiety-inducing picking rhythm, and that trumpet? It’s now the thundering roar of the seven plague angels, all doom and terrifying majesty. The song moves into a steady, pulsating groove, which from now on becomes the key sonic element of the entire record.
The follow-up song, “Frail Forms”, builds on the momentum of its predecessor by keeping that groovy, push-and-pull feel, but it applies different tools, and by the time it reaches its midway point, Orphan Donor’s nauseating magic is in full effect. The drums are given room to run rampant, with intense fills and rolls that perfectly contrast the ghostly strums of the lead guitar. The trumpet pops in again, this time tucking into the background, acting like a second rhythm guitar to brilliant effect. The song’s last section, where the guitars and trumpet swirl in an almost nightmarish version of a klezmer tune, would make John Zorn proud, and it is hands down my favorite part of the whole record.
The energy starts dipping a bit on the following song, “Viscera Coffin”, and the short instrumental interlude that follows it, but the band quickly recovers and sets up another highlight with “Show Me the Way”, where a tense instrumental opening melts into an absolutely pummeling whirlwind of chaos to close down the song, dragging you into the record’s most intense moments. Flashes of Breather Resist and other mathcore influences (yep, they even have that in their arsenal) are the final twist in the Ailments kaleidoscope, with the two closing tracks bringing fond memories of forgotten MySpace-era sasscore bands. And then that damn trumpet blares again, and this new circle of hell comes to an abrupt and way too early stop.
A dozen years removed from their first release, Orphan Donor have come a long way, and Ailments is the living monument to their progress. The band has cultivated a truly idiosyncratic sound, straddling the line between the chaotic and the abrasive with clear confidence. For any listener looking for a unique, effective, and memorable record that sounds like no other current act, Ailments is one of the best bets you’ll make this year. Join me in celebrating these weirdos finally getting the attention (and cult record label) they deserve, and let’s all hang around in hypnotized awe for another twenty listens, shall we?
