One of the best things about these late months — aside from all those thrilling well-we-gotta-put-something-up lists — is speculating what’s coming up in the New Year. What will be the highlights, the lowlights, the creepers, sleepers, hard-hitters, and so on. Today, we’re fortunate enough to get a preview of what Uppsala, Sweden, five-piece Ordos have in store for 2017. They’ll release their second full-length, House of the Dead, via Moving Air Music, and as an early herald of the album’s arrival, you can stream a premiere of the title-track, “House of the Dead,” below.

Ordos made their long-play debut in 2013 with a self-titled that showed promise in their straightforward, near-metallic push and varied tracks driven by the dual guitars of André and Magnus and the lurch-bound propulsion of bassist Martin and drummer Max, all a foundation for the gruff, commanding vocals of Emil. “House of the Dead” works in a similar aesthetic, ultimately, but is entirely more atmospherically engaging, and where different tracks on the debut seemed to work individually from various influences, this new one brings those together to form something both aggressive and ambient from them, given ground through a verse/chorus structure but still giving listeners a sense of space to inhabit as its 6:44 play out.

The thing about premiering one cut without having heard the whole album, of course, is I don’t know what the rest of the offering sounds like, so can’t necessarily vouch for “House of the Dead” speaking for House of the Dead in its entirety. But they did name the record after it, so unless Ordos were playing tricks — always possible — there’s at least some part of this song they thought represented where they are as a band, and in listening I think it’s pretty easy to hear why they would. It may well be they’re on a path to a take on heavy rock that’s dark without necessarily being entirely doomed, or it may be that they’re taking heavy and doom and sludge and a few other things and mashing them together like particles trying to make a black hole.

We’ll find out next year. Till then, you can stream “House of the Dead” on the player here and check out a quote from the band and some more background below.

Please enjoy:

Ordos on “House of the Dead”:

“After the first album we’ve tried to go further down the nightmarish path. We have been experimenting with thicker riffs, more aggressive singing and subtle harmonics to give the music more flow, and a hint of psychedelic experience ‘gone wrong.'”

In the fall of ’11, yet another band from the infamous rehearsal space in Uppsala, Sweden broke up, and from the ashes, mold and dirt, a new idea and three members rose once again. Inspired by the underground stoner genre and the atmosphere all around them.

Playing some slow riffs, screaming and drinking to find a new style, the sound of one guitar just wasn’t enough, so the strings were tuned down and a second guitarist got thrown into the dark, weird project. Finally! It started to sound like it looked! Trashy stoner-doom with inspiration from black metal, bluesy psychedelic stoner and everything in between. One year later they released a self-recorded demo and plenty of gigs followed while the music developed. Ready for a new album, they visited a friend and recorded twelve new songs. Only six were good enough, and the only amount that would fit into an LP.

When winter ’13 arrived, the album “Ordos S/T” was officially released, and a half year later the physical record arrived. ‘House Of The Dead’ will be released in early 2017 through Moving Air Music. The first single and title track ‘House Of The Dead’ from their upcoming album will be out on November, 25th! Recorded at the mighty Studio Underjord in Norrköping, Sweden, which has tracked bands like Skraeckoedlan, Tombstones and Saturnalia Temple.

Ordos is:
Emil – Sång
André – Gitarr
Magnus – Gitarr
Martin – Bas
Max – Trummor

Ordos on Thee Facebooks

Ordos on Bandcamp

Moving Air Music website

Moving Air Music on Thee Facebooks