Partum Vita Mortem is a particularly ambitious album by Orpheus Omega, the melodic death metal outfit from Melbourne, Australia. As one might expect from the album’s title, the lyrical themes present here concern with birth, life, and death, all in under a sixty minute runtime. With a sound more than just reminiscent of Dark Tranquillity, it’s a truly impressive collection of songs that coalesce into a superb cohesive unit.

Orpheus Omega’s third album is divided into partum, vita, and mortem, each with four songs (“Conception” exists as a prelude to partum). The first third of the album is an onslaught of fast and heavy tracks. Its positioning at the forefront of the album is genius as it acts as an immediate hook for the listener. I’d even feel comfortable comparing the partum segment to Mors Principium Est, and this comparison is much more apt when listening to “Karma Favours the Weak” and “Practice Makes Pathetic”. While both tracks’ melodic and harmonic exchanges between keys and guitars are the most apparent strong point of Orpheus Omega’s compositions, it’s the clean vocals that are introduced here that really caught my attention. This first third half plays out with the fantastic “Our Reminder”, another song that shows remnants of the Gothenburg signature sound. I usually feel remiss when I state that anything is perfect, but partum is about the greatest sequence of melodeath songs I’ve heard in quite some time. It’s sure to appeal to all fans of the subgenre, and maybe even bring in some new ones.

The vita portion is a bit more ambitious than its preceding tracks. Most of the familiar elements from the first third are brought back, but some tempo fluctuation and deviations from the normal verse-chorus structure are implemented here as well. “Unraveling Today”, the first track of vita, makes this apparent, with its progressive tinges. Most of this third follows along a similar path as “Unraveling Today”, but “Beacons” is the standout track of this segment for me. Featuring the most notable usage of the blast beats in this album, it also features a catchy chorus and some incredibly tight riffing to complement to clean and harsh vocal dynamic.

The final stretch of the album, mortem, in keeping with its themes, has the heaviest moments of the whole endeavor, as well as some of the most tranquil and serene. There are some serious Insomnium vibes present on “Echoes Through Infinity” that carry on until “Kharon”, the penultimate track. It’s here where the progressive elements are pushed to the foreground of Orpheus Omega’s music, and with that the listener is afforded a lot of replay value. The abundance of mid-tempo songs on this segment make it a bit difficult to get through all the songs without some fatigue, but luckily that fatigue is offset by the finale, “Silence, The I”. The final song is up-tempo, aggressive, and an amalgamation of every heavy element that has made Partum Vita Mortem so memorable. The piano flourishes throughout the song work really well alongside the growl vocals, as they have elsewhere, but “Silence, The I” presents a solemn ending to the epic that this album has personified.

By my lack of exposition in the first paragraph, it might be obvious to some of you that I went into this album with absolutely no idea what to expect from Orpheus Omega. Despite that, this album has skyrocketed itself into #1 in my favorite melodic death albums of 2015 so far. The first two-thirds of this album are some of the greatest individual melodeath songs you’ll hear all year, and as a cohesive unit they’re almost unstoppable. My only minor disappointment lies with the final portion of the album and its lack of a real climax or crescendo. With all that having been said, this is a highly recommended album, and Partum Vita Mortem is an album that doesn’t deserve to fly under the radar of any self-respecting metal fan.