They were named "the one and only legitimate Blind Guardian successor" by German music magazine RockHard.
They are also the organizers of the German metal festival Winter Nachts Traum, which has featured such bands as Rage (Band), Sinister, Axxis, Ensiferum, van Canto, and Agathodaimon.
According to the band, their name translates to "The Order of Fear", with "Orden" being German for "Order" and "Ogan" supposedly being an Old Celtic word for "fear".
Vocalist Seeb Levermann has done guest vocals on Grave Digger's album Return of the Reaper, and plays guitar in Angus McSix as the Arch Demon Seebulon.
In late 2019, Seeb Levermann announced he would relegate rhythm guitar to then-bassist Niels Löffler and become the band's dedicated vocalist (thus making Orden Ogan a five-piece), which resulted in Steven Wussow and Patrick Sperling being brought onboard for bass and lead guitar respectively.
Current Lineup:
- Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann - guitar (1996-2019) keyboards, lead vocals (1996-present)
- Niels Löffler - bass (2011–2019), guitar (2019-present)
- Dirk Meyer-Berhorn - drums (2011–present)
- Steven Wussow - bass (2019-present)
- Patrick Sperling - guitar (2020-present)
Former Members:
- Marc Peters - guitar (1998–2000)
- Stefan Manarin - guitars (2000–2006)
- Verena Melchert - flute (2001–2004)
- Christina Decker - keyboards (1996–2000)
- Sebastian Severin - bass (1996–2007)
- Sebastian "Ghnu" Grütling - drums (1996–2011)
- Lars Schneider - bass (2007–2011)
- Nils Weise - keyboards (2007–2011)
- Tobias Kersting - guitars (2007–2020)
Discography:
- Testimonium A.D. (2004) note
- Vale (2008)
- Easton Hope (2010)
- To The End (2012)
- Ravenhead (2015)
- Gunmen (2017)
- Final Days (2021)
Examples:
- After the End: To The End explicitly focuses on an apocalyptic nuclear winter and a struggling band of survivors trying to make their way through it.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: "In the Dawn of the A.I." from Final Days depicts the rise of a malicious A.I. who gains sentience and decides to destroy humanity.
- The album itself also focuses on this story and concept, with the conclusion of "It Is Over" implying the aforementioned genocidal A.I. finally launched nuclear weapons to exterminate mankind.
- All There in the Manual:
- The story of Alister Vale and his nemeses, the Lords of the Flies, is expanded upon in the "Vale" and "Rites of Vale" comics included in the special editions of Vale and To the End respectively.
- The old book read by the traveler in the "F.E.V.E.R." music video fills out some additional details of the legend of the woman in the lake that is explored and referenced throughout Ravenhead, identifying her as "Baroness Nameless", and that the "curse of the lake" says all wandering young men will drown if they do not offer a golden ring to her in the water.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: The video for "Inferno" depicts flying saucers conducting an Orbital Bombardment of Earth. The first place that gets blown up is the corporate HQ of AFM Records, the band's label at the time.
- Concept Album: Every album explores a particular story or setting;
- Vale and Easton Hope are both about their mascot Alister Vale, with the latter serving as an Origins Episode for him.
- To The End focuses on a group of survivors trying to survive in a nuclear winter post-apocalypse.
- Ravenhead, named for the titular Abbey of Ravenhead, is centered around the tales gathered by the mysterious order of monks dwelling within the abbey as well as the dark legend of the lake.
- Gunmen explores a Weird West setting and loosely tells the story of an outlaw seeking vengeance in the desert for someone he loved.
- Final Days is a dystopian sci-fi narrative following the rise of an artificial intelligence that eventually wipes out most of humanity.
- Cover Version: The band recorded a cover of Running Wild's "The Battle of Waterloo" for ReUnation – A Tribute to Running Wild.
- Dark Fantasy: The main theme of their lyrics.
- Epic Rocking: A significant portion of their discography, most notably "Finis Coronat Opus", "The Yearning Remains", "Angels War", "We Are Pirates!", and "Of Downfall and Decline", with the longest being nine minutes.
- Haunted Headquarters: Ravenhead in the song and album of the same name. It is an abbey that gained its name for being located on a high ledge by a mountain and the ravens in the sky circling it. It houses a group of monks of the Order of Ogan that guards the dark secrets contained within.
- Hidden Track:
- Vale features "(Who's The) Green Man", a Ska/Piss-Take Rap number that is very silly in comparison to the somber tone of the rest of the album.
- The Japanese version of Gunmen also has an orchestral version of "Fields of Sorrow" that is listed on the back of the booklet but not marked as an actual track digitally or on the CD itself.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: The protagonist of "Gunman" manages to shoot his hangman off the gallows while still blindfolded and presumably bound.
- Inspirational Martyr: "Finis Coronat Opus" is about this. The singer wants to be remembered as a comet, not as a dead rock, upon his death.
- Lyrical Cold Open: In "Finis Coronat Opus", which opens with "Remembered as comets, not as dead rocks".
- Lyrical Dissonance: Employed very often, such as in "The Things We Believe In", a heroic anthem... about people freezing to death in a nuclear winter, having lost all hope.
- Metal Band Mascot: Alister Vale, an immortal Humanoid Abomination who wears a longcoat, top hat, and red scarf and has appeared in every album cover art since Vale. Alister Vale is doomed to walk the earth and leave everything behind him in decay.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: The chorus of "Finis Coronat Opus", the last song of Gunmen.Finis coronat opus, in nomine et ad honorem tenebrae.note
- Powered Armor: Most of the characters dwelling in the post-apocalyptic nuclear winter depicted in the "The Things We Believe In" music video are clad in suits that make them look like they walked straight out of a Fallout game. The band themselves also donned the same power armor both for the video and live performances around To The End's release.
- Precision F-Strike: Although their lyrics rarely contain profanity, a powerful F-strike is dropped in "Nobody Leaves";I paid the ferryman ten fucking years ago!
- Science Fiction: Final Days.
- Shout-Out: “We Are Pirates” is one to Running Wild.
- Synthetic Plague: "December"
describes a disease indicated to be a bioweapon starting in "the east" and wiping out eight billion people, while fake news hampers the response. The song, written and recorded in 2019, turned out to be uncomfortably similar to several conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic and was cut from the original release of the Final Days album out of respect for the real virus's victims. - Updated Re Release: "Angels War" from Testimonium A.D. was re-recorded for To The End, eight years after its debut.
- Weird West: Gunmen.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: "heart of the Android"Is there a heart inside the chest of the android?
What do you see, machine or man?
All that I am, all that I was has been destroyed
Please let me hope and feel again.
