Rising German power metal force ORDEN OGAN follows up on the success of their latest studio album „Ravenhead“ (which became an international chart success in 2015) with their first ever DVD release. But “The Book Of Ogan” is so much more than that… The package consists of 2 DVDs (running time 6 hours – incl. 2 full Live concerts, extensive band documentary, all music videos & numerous specials) and2 CDs (“All These Dark Years – The Best Of 2008 – 2015” and the self-released/demo “Testimonium a.d.” from 2004). While the “Best Of” is an exclusive selection of the band’s hits and fan favorites from their four albums, “Testimonium a.d.” is made available for the first time ever as official label release here. It received highest ratings in the demo sections of the leading metal magazines back then and is dealt for up to 500€ (!). „The Book Of Ogan“ comes as deluxe 2DVD/2CD box set(hardcover, separate trays for each disc, 40-pages booklet) and is a must for both longtime followers and new fans!
“Compiling all the material for “The Book Of Ogan” was a huge effort”,band leader Seeb explains. “I have underestimated the dimension of this project completely, to be honest. At first it started with the idea of releasing a Live DVD plus bonus material. Then we wanted to add a “Best Of” CD and finally my idea of producing a “little” documentary about the band’s history became an extensive trip through two decades which resulted in a 90-minutes long piece of work. All the video material appearing in the documentary of course is only a fraction of what we had to go through, select and edit. But also interviews with many former and current Orden Ogan members were filmed especially for this release. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun as well. After everything was finished, we (the band mates) were meeting to watch it as a whole. The result: Laughing out loud but also shaking heads in disbelief.”
For “The Book Of Ogan” two entire concerts were filmed in Germany 2015 (Rockharz festival and a club show in Bamberg). Combined with the extensive documentary, all music videos, additional live clips, making ofs and specials, the DVD content of “The Book Of Ogan”clocks in at almost 6 hours!
Regarding the Live recordings, Seeb states: “To me it doesn’t make sense to rework Live recordings later on in the studio overly. Of course, everything should be mixed properly (and this is what we did), but if there are mistakes in the performance, you should keep it real.Otherwise it’s not “Live””.
Titled „All These Dark Years – The Best of 2008 – 2015“, this exclusive compilation CD consisting of 14 songs taken from the albums “Vale”, “Easton Hope”, “To The End” und “Ravenhead”.
A very special rarity can be found on CD #2: the self-released „Testimonium a.d.“ demo from 2004. And there’s a story to it…
“We never really intended to release „Testimonium a.d.“ officially again”,Seeb declares.
It was supposed to be our first self-released CD/demo – even before our official label debut „Vale“. As time went on and Orden Ogan’s following was increasing steadily, new fans also became interested in the beginnings of the band – and this first self-released, long sold out demo.”Continues Seeb: “Supply and demand determine the prices in the end and we don’t want to demonize anyone, but selling the CD for up to 500€ is way „over the top“. When AFM suggested to release “Testimonium a.d.“ as exclusive bonus in „The Book Of Ogan“, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make it available for our fans again one more (last) time.”