Date Signed: January 2024
Label: Century Media Records
Type of Music: Swedish metal
Management: 5B Artist Management
Booking: United Talent
Publicity: Corinne Westbrook - C Squared - [email protected]
Web: orbitculture.com
Orbit Culture took more than 10 years to prove their mettle. Hailing from Eksjö, Sweden, the four-piece faced intimidating stakes: Proving they weren’t just another melodic death-metal band from the country that brought legendary status to the subgenre.
Over the course of four studio records, as many EPs and heavy touring, Orbit Culture had solidified their character. The band had fashioned a fresh take on MDM that shined the subgenre with an urgent, tightly wound spin. The new sound distinguished the new group from forefathers At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames.
Now all they needed was to build a team around them. And here’s where the story of Orbit Culture finding their footing in the industry gets fascinating: They managed to ink deals during the most challenging time in recent memory: the pandemic.
“We did a live streaming event during COVID, and while it wasn’t the best, that’s where we found our booking agency, UTA, and that led to us jumping on with a management company too,” founder Niklas Karlsson said in a video conversation in late January. He spoke to Music Connection mere days after securing another critical part of the Orbit Culture crew: a deal with Century Media Records.
As the singer/guitarist put it, “the stars aligned” for Orbit Culture.
Deferring from divulging specifics, Karlsson called the Century Media pact “a very good deal for us and everyone involved.
“Everyone is super-happy,” he added, noting that meetings with Century Media had lasted almost a year.
It’s good fortune for Orbit Culture that, for a fairly young band, they’re accustomed to taking a long view. After working the road to death over the past couple of years, while the Century Media deal put even more wind in their sails, the band is going to take a breather and set aside a substantial amount of time to deliberately work on their Century Media debut.
“We were supposed to play some festivals this year, but we decided to wipe our whole summer plans clean, focus on writing the new record and come back big in 2025,” Karlsson said. “We’ll head out on our first-ever headlining tour in Europe, but after that we will step back and try to write the whole record at home in the spring and summer. Now, we really have to show our worth.”