![]() Alongside the strong riffage from the strings, a note should be made about the album’s vocal delivery. However, thankfully, this proves to be the only weak track of the album, as the band go straight back to what they do best by the behemoth heft and melodies of ‘Faces’ – another definite highlight. The album takes a midpoint break with ‘Heliopause’ to open up ‘Winter Keeps Us Warm’, a wavering attempt at arena-rock that’s reminiscent of a pop-rock dirge entirely out of place after what we previously heard. The mood does drop midway through the album, however. If anything, it would be more apt to put this record in the region of some of some grounded, yet progressively thunderous releases from artists like VOLA, Toothgrinder, Good Tiger and at times, even Tesseract. It seems bizarre, in a listen through the first few songs of the album, that Black Orchid Empire seem to be regularly compared to modern day Biffy Clyro. In particular, ‘Singularity’ and ‘Natural Selection’ are two songs that immediately stand out on a first listen through the album. The guitar riffs are heavy yet progressive, and there is a distinctly original sound about the song-writing throughout the first act of the album that captures a listener without sounding too much like any other existing album from the trio. The band describe themselves as producing “heavy-hitting savagery with intense melodic beauty”, and that is a description that seems all too apt throughout Semaphore. From the strong musicality of the band members, to lyrics verging between abstract and dystopia, this new release sees Black Orchid Empire cement themselves as a group of able studio artists to complement their existing reputation. However, from the opening of debut track ‘Singularity’, Semaphore is an album that certainly captures both the ears and imaginations. We are currently working on designing an interpretation framework for presenting the information on orchids to the public.For a band who have built a reputation predominantly on the back of their live shows, it is curious that Black Orchid Empire seem to be going full steam ahead with a powerful new release in the middle of a global pandemic. ![]() Maria Christu Raja, Director, Kali Tiger Reserve, said, “We believe that the orchidarium will serve as a knowledge centre for ex situ conservation of orchids to students and scientists who study the flora of the Western Ghats.” He added, “For the public, this will introduce them to the world of orchids and their importance. The new orchidarium is expected to help the researchers who can study orchid varieties at one repository. The staff are made to look for orchids, document them and report to the higher authorities. We are also collecting orchids from other parts of Western Ghats in Karnataka and south India to grow them in the KTR orchidarium.” The KTR has already begun training its frontline staff in identifying the orchids and preservation in case they have fallen in the ground. Most of the orchids bloom during monsoon and we shall introduce the terrestrial orchids which are seasonal. He added, “Orchids mainly occur in two varieties, epiphytic and terrestrial. The orchidarium will act as a rescue and rehab site for wild orchids,” Punekar said. Nearly 20 wild orchids are endemic to this region only. “Out of 170 orchid species that are found in Karnataka, 80 species are from the Anashi region alone. ![]() The Western Ghats is home for a rich orchid population and a majority of them are found in the Kali Tiger Reserve, especially in the Anshi region of Uttara Kannada district. In the coming days, most of the orchid varieties found in the Western Ghats will be added, said Sachin Anil Punekar, Conservation Biologist and Founder of Biospheres-Ecosphere who has been helping the KRT set up the orchidarium project. The building work has been completed and about 40 varieties of wild orchids that are found in KTR are being grown in the orchidarium.
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