Presented in marvelously chasmic horizonless array and carefully bent, curved into death’s spiral a host of monstrosities collude as this beauteous and beastly debut full-length album from Brattleboro, Vermont-based death metal quartet ORDH introduces their warped idyll in glorious descent. A hypnotic event given a reasonably consistent guide-hand to ensure passage ‘Blind in Abyssal Realms‘ may ultimately read as a vortex of myriad thoughts in succession but one which does well to lend shape and direction to each scene depicted, implying a progression which holds up within reverent observance. As a debut album from an unknown progressive death metal band it is well above-average in both authorship and expression where niche tastes and auld tendencies make for an engrossing, addictive saunter into the abysm.

Ordh aren’t a bolt from the blue so much as they are a pivot-of-interest from folks vested in progressive sludge metal since the early 2010’s via their previous band, the snarling n’ rocking Season of Mist-backed Barishi, as they’d reached an impasse circa 2023. Granted not every member of the band followed as co-vocalist/guitarist Graham Brooks, also a live guitarist for Witch, recruited ex-bandmates/live members alongside folks from Kiefcatcher and Come to Grief for this album. The intent of key songwriter Brooks and co. is to access their interest in ‘old school’ Scandinavian death metal naming Swedish and Finnish interest alongside nods to Timeghoul‘s demos and (more fittingly) the endpoint of Morbus Chron. This doesn’t necessarily suggest their exact niche in progressive death metal context but does place their work nearby the acumen of end-level Cadaveric Fumes and to some degree Speglas where they’ve occasionally accessed heavy rock slung flow and temperamental longer-form pieces within their ride.

Comparing Ordh‘s work on this debut to brief sparks and sketches in the greater space-cased underground death metal evolutionary pool loses a bit of sense in motion as the intricacies of said movement are polished and pro on a level that speaks more to the band’s prog-sludge effulgence in translation. Opener “Apis Bull” and the first few minutes of follow-up “Moon of Urd” toy with time signatures, ever-ebbing rhythmic tension and such in a way that reflects ‘Focus‘ (alternately, ‘Human‘) more than ‘The Formulas of Death‘. The level of left-handed finesse worming through their rhythm guitar interest quickly differentiates without necessarily reading as ‘Old Smoke‘ w/growls though we don’t necessarily get a cold, hard foundation of percussive early 90’s Floridian fare either, rather a shuddering and ranting first impression.

The aforementioned “Moon of Urd” similarly avoids the typical prog-death dynamic sustaining their anxious, bustling-along pace and scattered about movement without a clear statement enforced beyond the momentum their scrawling creates. The sensation of fractalizing rhythmic tics in modulation in their concerted efforts has clear enough flow through but speaks loudest via warbling and wailing leads which one could reasonably liken to more recent Gutvoid modus on some level. This is exacerbated per their venture into longer form pieces later on. Within the first ~15 minutes/two songs on ‘Blind in Abyssal Realms‘ Ordh do well to introduce their warm yet gnarled rhythmic sensation but generally background any sense of leading voice, moving as a mass which balances glowing surrealism with always-worming, ‘old school’ prog death advance.

Ordh‘s use of cyclically ranting lead-driven scrawl reaches a more surgical application as the mid-song eruption of “Phlegraean Fields” encroaches, threatening to touch upon early 90’s Disciples of Power level riffcraft as the raise their churn levels highest (~5:15 minutes in). This is perhaps the piece most likely to burn into brain per the consistent lead guitar framing provided throughout its ~10 minute stretch wherein their work captivates and manages a hook which reprises itself at several key juncture. The peak of the song with its solo and collapse into spaced refrain aren’t unheard-of moves in this sector but their effect is the sort of peak and valley moment needed to break up some of the band’s action, stave some of their fiddlier momentum for effect at a point of peak immerse. Not to mention the hissing prog-death/doom intro which kicks the song off, a sort of Dream Unending-esque climb toward the heave of the song.

Up to that point it’d be fair to say that ‘Blind in Abyssal Realms‘ avoids chunking into the heavier authenticity of either ‘old school’ death metal movement, lacking the percussive vault of old in general, while also avoid the deeply cavernous atmo-death implied by their production values. In simpler terms, the big riffs and killer ‘tude aren’t necessarily there amongst the deliberate, knot-tying hand applied. With the title track and assumed Side B opener “Blind in Abyssal Realms” they’ve cracked open this maw for dramatic effect as the 12+ minute piece (eventually) turns to tumultuous violence to carve its biggest grooves (beyond ~4:23 minutes in). Between the whammy-yanking pulls and hard angled turns taken in the moment you might get some sense of Ancient Ones (or, ‘Sulphur English‘ even) inspired trample in the midst, an interruptive thrashing stance which yet retains the stature Ordh‘ve propagated throughout the full listen.

As the maw remains cracked at its hinge-joint “Heirothesion” completes the thought with equal (or more) fire as the title track, easily prompting the most aggressive riffcraft found herein without losing sight of the thousand-handed mill Ordh‘ve made signature herein. This song should best emphasize the ‘old school’ prog-death interest of the band in an early 90’s underground context to start, resembling something like ‘The Human Abstract‘ meets Bölzer‘s ‘Hero‘. From that point we’ve gotten the bigger picture upon culmination, seeing the whole thread through becomes vital to receiving its arc as a surrealistic spiral which ends with arguably more of a bang than’d introduced it. The larger progression through these five songs, intentional or not, reads as a sophisticated spiral toward a point of dramatic damnation, a fiery yet bleak endpoint with consistent narrator granting lucidity throughout.

We’ve seen countless monstre-packed death spirals from maestro Paolo Girardi over the years but his cover artwork for ‘Blind in Abyssal Realms‘ is particularly detailed, intensifying toward its center point with eye-darting mayhem packed into every corner-set scene. The eye should naturally wander toward the dark endpoint at the center of the vortex, reflecting the greater arc of the album itself. It is a perfect compliment to the beauteous death flowing through Ordh‘s motion. At this point you’ll have gotten the point that the band’s sense of flow and the greater river of movement generated is key for the cohesion of the full experience, I’d appreciated that the artwork resembled this effect.

In the grand scheme of progressive death metal ‘Blind in Abyssal Realms‘ is neither typified retro-regressive feat nor is it the “cutting edge” self indulgence one might expect from that tag and instead Ordh‘s work reads as thoughtful, organically spun and satisfyingly active ‘new old school’ fusion. Granted if you’ve equal interest in progressive sludge metal you’ll find extra interest here to some of the finer details and the larger arc proposed but as a whole this is one for fans of headier, exploratory death metal unbound by direct canon or any too-specific referential framing. The greater effect and experience is first and foremost immersive but (again) consistent in voice to the point that the ride through is never without a guide through the proposed trip. A very high recommendation.

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