Ordh

death metal

Progressive death metal from New England. From the start, Ordh — the “corrupted spelling” of an old English word meaning “the tip of a spear” — have bucked trends to do things differently. Unlike the majority of today’s new bands, where the desire to put themselves, underdeveloped music and overdeveloped merch drops into the public eye as quickly as possible, Ordh took the opposite path, choosing to ruminate, simmer, write and rewrite the material that comprises Blind in Abyssal Realms over the course of five years. The result is as stunning and devastating as it is massive and hulking. “Apis Bull” roars out of the gate like a spacious colossus of sonic desecration, swimming with truncheon-swinging cavernous melodics and cacophonous harmonies. “Moon of Urd” is the deftly organized result of competing sewer-dwelling neighbors blasting their collections of ‘70s prog and spidery death metal at each other through uninsulated rice paper walls. The title track rides shotgun with the beasts of cryptozoological burden as they mimic the sound of their tearing down new buildings and three-step dancing on the remnants. “We’re all pretty psyched about this as a snapshot of where we are now,” says Brooks. "The editing process was pretty ruthless and nothing was sacred and unless a part could prove itself, it was fair game to be cut.” The recording process was just as labored over and extensive. Blake’s drums were originally captured in the summer of...