ORD – Withered Bones (Album – Zoharum)
Genre/Influences: Ritual, Experimental, Industrial.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: ORD is a Russian solo-project driven by Alexey Shipilov who’s also running the label Status Prod. on which he released most of his work. “Withered Bones” is the first album released on Zoharum featuring five cuts recorded during autumn and winter 2020.
Content: The work is composed by different acoustic instruments and electronic noises plus field recordings. There’re explicit Ritual elements emerging at the surface while the way of working reminds me of early 80s Industrialists. The work sounds dark and gives an improvised feeling.
+ + + : I’ve always been a huge lover of early 80s Industrial music where artists were creative in their way of composing their stuff. That’s an essential aspect of this album bringing me back in time. I enjoy the dark and icy structures with Ritual influences on top created by instruments like flutes, bells, and metallic percussion.
– – – : I was less fascinated by the most Experimental passages of the work still featuring a total improvisation format.
Conclusion: The way of working and sound of “Withered Bones” clearly sound as a late homage to early 80s Industrial/Experimental music.
Best songs: “Withered Bones Ground Into Ash”, “Mixed By Rain With Earth”.
Rate: 7½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/ordritual
Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum
Zoharum released “Withered Bones” on 30 January 2022, digitally and on CD in an edition of 300 copies. The five tracks are “Withered Bones Ground Into Ash”, “Scattered To The Wind”, “Mixed By Rain With Earth”, “For New Life” and “To Be Risen”.
The sessions took place between autumn and winter 2020 at the “Yunost” Music Center, and Andrey Volkov mixed the material in summer 2021. The instrumentation includes singing bowls, flutes, tubular bells, karatals, tambourines and other percussion, supported by field recordings, samples and effects.
Listen to “Withered Bones”:
About ORD
ORD is a ritual project from Voronezh, Russia, run by Alexey Shipilov, who also owns the label Status Prod. The project combines shamanic rhythms with Buddhist ritual traditions, and traditional folk instruments with industrial noise, extending that approach into graphics and live performance.
Most of the catalogue came out on Status Prod., starting with “Live Fire Meditation” in 2017 and continuing through “Tunottauan” in 2018, “Kamadarshana” in 2019, “Avalokiteśvara” in 2020 and “Comprehension & Gaining” in 2021. “The Astral Pathways Of The Inflamed Mind” appeared on Live Bait Recording Foundation in 2021.
“Withered Bones” was the project’s first release for Zoharum, issued the same day as the label compilation V/A Zona Electronica. Later albums include “Secret Ceremonies” on Aesthetic Death and “Mechanism Of Eternity” on Dunkelheit Produktionen, both in 2023.
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