One minute you’re minding your own business, maybe having a cup of tea (my fellow Brits, I’m looking at you), when a band just sort of lands in your lap and proceeds to alter your brain chemistry. Vermont’s Ordh are one such band.
‘Blind in Abyssal Realms’ is a beautiful beast, inside and out. From the mind bending and brutal opener ‘Apis Bull’, the time and devotion that has been put into this record is evident. Fans of Opeth and Incantation alike have plenty to play with here, Ordh manage to maintain a sound that is aggressive and yet sophisticated, mixing Death Metal and Progressive Metal without coming across as pretentious. 70’s style proggy, technical solos intertwine with guttural vocals and violent drumbeats for long periods of time; but it never feels unnecessarily drawn out, and there are some rather lovely gentle instrumental moments scattered throughout. At forty-three minutes long with only five tracks, Ordh strike a balance that keeps the listener interested without outstaying their welcome.
Title track ‘Blind in Abyssal Realms’ can only be described as an odyssey, it seemingly covers everything the band set out to try on this album and is the song I would tell you to check out if I could only recommend one.
Ordh have crafted a cerebral, cavernous monster of a debut and I suspect we will be seeing them on many AOTY lists.
