REVIEW: Orthodox – A Door Left Open [2025]

Artist: Orthodox
Album: A Door Left Open

Dreams of a door left open.

You return to a door left open; not ajar as though the latch had failed and the wind crept in, but agape as though left swung wide deliberately. Did you forget to close it? Did something else open it? Is it inviting you in, or a remnant of something breaking out? The unease and panic waging a full-on fist fight in your gut swells to a steady roar the closer you walk to the door’s threshold—and that same dismal, oppressive unease and tumultuous, ominous energy is the underpinning element that defines Tennessee straight edge metalcore titans Orthodox’s fifth studio album A Door Left Open. Continuing their voracious blend of cutthroat metalcore and driving, breakneck nu metal into what can best—and most simply—be described as “big pants music,” A Door Left Open is Orthodox’s most focused and unyielding release to date, offering precious little in the way of rest or respite for the listener across twelve tracks and 32 minutes of pummeling metalcore that lacks any modicum of tact or compromise. A Door Left Open is a conceptually intriguing, thoroughly devastating and wholly unique take on nu-metal-meets-metalcore that does the band’s stalwart legacy proud—and yes, it’s got its fair share of wee-woo breakdowns.

                                                                              What happens if death offers no release?

In its purest form, A Door Left Open is one of the most true-to-form blends of nu metal, metallic hardcore and outright metalcore to release in recent history. Orthodox blend chaotic, riff-heavy dissonance with explosive percussion and breakdowns that could level entire cities, A Door Left Open lives up to the tongue in cheek moniker of “big pants music” that Orthodox have rightfully earned. Whether its the frenzied fretwork that defines “Can You Save Me?” Or the stellar riffs and driving, jackhammering percussion on nu-metal anthem “Blend in With the Weak,” Orthodox’s musicianship is at the top of its game throughout the record’s modest runtime. A particular favorite is “Keep Your Blessings,” a gloomy and dissonant metalcore cut that concludes with a particularly ominous breakdown, combining the crushing weight of ten-ton guitar, a bass tone so thick it could be diagnosed with class III obesity and crushing, plodding percussion—only to nosedive into “Sacred Place,” another intense cut that whiplashes the listener right back to Sounds of Loss-era Orthodox. Throughout the entirety of their long-awaited 2025 record, Orthodox oscillate readily between the obscenely heavy and the obscenely visceral, with some of the more energetic and faster-paced cuts like “Body Chalk,” “Blend in With the Weak” and “One Less Body” channel a more metallic and…JNCO type of atmosphere that highlights the sound and ethos the band have been working towards since Let it Take Its Course. Ultimately, the band’s musical diversity creates an engaging listen that is consistently intense to the point of smothering, though Orthodox achieve this unsettling-yet-addicting sensation using so many different approaches that A Door Left Open is virtually impossible to grow tired of.

What keeps me in and what keeps you out?

It should come as no surprise that Orthodox’s vocal component is just as primal and intense as their instrumental soundscape would have the listener expect. From the first roars of “Can You Save Me?” Through the introspective breaks in “Sacred Place” and the closing stanzas of “Will You Hate Me?”—which are just about the closest thing the listener gets to a break throughout the entirety of the record—the band’s vocals mirror their lyrical content perfectly; strung out, anxious and immolating with every syllable. “Sacred Place” opens with a dialectic back-and-forth between gritty, low bellows and throat-rending mid-range yells, while “Blend in With the Weak” offers a barrage of rapid-fire harsh screams and shouts, with moments of A Door Left Open broken up with sparse spoken word segments not unexpected for those well-versed in Orthodox’s discography. In brief, the vocal component behind A Door Left Open is Orthodox, but in a form that is simultaneously more and less refined than they ever have been—certainly more deliberate in range, tone and candor, but also increasingly unhinged to serve as a foil for the bubbling anxiety and unease that rises to a boil throughout the record’s runtime.

Another sight God chose not to see

A Door Left Open is Orthodox’s magnum opus; the stand-out masterwork of their already incredibly impressive discography. With blistering, aggressive elements that fit just as well in the late 90s as they fit in 2025 and a whirlwind undercurrent of ultra-abrasive metalcore to keep the entirety of its modest duration cohesive, A Door Left Open is a thematic, conceptual and crushing release that demands the listener’s full attention—because you never know when you might stumble across your own door left open.

9/10
For Fans Of: Chamber, No Cure, Spineshank, Boundaries
By: Connor Welsh