Ordos - House of the Dead

By Calen Henry. Based on the spooky cover art, a foreboding mansion in front of a blood moon, issuing a river of lava, Ordos’ House of the Dead looks like it could house almost any metal sound. Thankfully Ordos sound like groovier Monolord meets Beastwars with a dash of Ghost. Trust Sweden, the land of Monolord, Salem's Pot, and Vokonis to deliver your stoner doom.

By Calen Henry.


Based on the spooky cover art, a foreboding mansion in front of a blood moon, issuing a river of lava, Ordos’ House of the Dead looks like it could house almost any metal sound. Thankfully Ordos sound like groovier Monolord meets Beastwars with a dash of Ghost. Trust Sweden, the land of Monolord, Salem's Pot, and Vokonis to deliver your stoner doom.

Firmly rooted in riff worship though they are, Ordos' greatest strength is variety. Stoner doom lives and dies by the riff, but can often simply be a band murdering said riff with the fuzz turned up to 11, like Sabbath from hell. It takes a special band (Monolord) to make that no frills approach work long term. Ordos have the riffs and the chops for it but they're thankfully not happy with just killer riffs.

It's almost like they came up with the aesthetic for the group then crammed in whatever music they thought was necessary to make it awesome. House of the Dead is, unsurprisingly steeped in the occult with tracks like "Satan Venit" and "The Witch" and, musically, everything supports the spooky vibe they've got going on.

The vocals are of particular note and range from throat singing through spooky horror movie narration, Matt Pike/Hyde inspired howls, and straightforward bluesey singing. Metal vocals sometimes come off as an afterthought, simply added because that’s what you do to complete your band. Ordos’ excellent vocalist forms an integral part of the sound and helps elevate them to something really special.

The instruments complements the vocal changes extremely well morphing effortlessly from thundering grooves into smooth extended leads. The riffs and rhythms are particularly excellent. They never stray too far from stoner doom expectations but never fall into total Sleep worship.

The magic is that it all holds together and never meanders. The relatively short 42 minute runtime helps that too. I'm telling you now, Ordos are the next Monolord. They're going to be big. Get this album.