Circle of Ouroborus
Hey, long no time no see, huh... [excuses, excuses...]
Anyway, another discography post. I had to, this band is so impenetrable, even if you're an initiated there's a chance you may get lost. Circle of Ouroborus is a Finnish black metal band. Well, sort of... They're an everevolving mutating entity. Their roots are in black metal, there's no denying here, but they incorporate so many influences, and change so rapidly from release to release, that it becomes so hard to pin them in a single genre. But there are a couple constants that you need to be aware of: It's always lo-fi, it's always weird (just curveball after curveball). Indeed, the production is a huge factor in CoO's sound, as is the vocals (mostly clean, in a whiny tone), and those tend to be very divise among people, but trust me, once you acquire this taste, it becomes impossible to let go.
I'm gonna post one album of each "phase" of theirs (using the term very loosely here, as they genre-hop back and forth, no linear timeline exists exactly), so that you can get to know it, see what you like best, and seek it out.
THE BEGINNING:
Shores
The humble first record. This is where we get to know the initial form. Some sort of black metal and post-punk fusion (including, yes, a Joy Division cover). Bleak, but not desolate. Esoteric, weird, just a headturner. Staying away from blast-beats, but not from the tremolo picking. As mentioned earlier, the vocals are very whiny, and nasally I guess? They're pretty unique, but comparable to something like Current 93. The recording is very garage quality, or gig-in-a-not-so-good-club quality. Not their best one overall, actually, but it sets the stone for their style, that they would develop and better later on.
If you liked this one, check these out: Tree Of Knowledge, Unituli, The Knives Beneath
UNPLUGGED:
Cast To The Pits
The theme is circle/ouroborus here, so we go back: Current 93, right? If you know, and appreciate, all that neo folk shenanigans, then you'll dig this (and thankfully, no fascist imagery/references here). Very warm lo-fi recording, and the whiny vocals are here, but they ditch away the kvlt instrumentation. What we have is mostly acoustic guitar, accompained by some soft percussion, flutes, and samples, from time to time. But do you think they would just abandon the occasional black metal rasps just because this is an acoustic album?! Hmpf... you still have much to learn.
If you liked this one, check these out: Venerations, Alttarimyllyt (this one is half electric, half acoustic), Hiljaiset Sanat
ATMOSPHERIC:
Eleven Fingers
This is a fan favorite, one of mine too. For a couple years (from 2010, roughly) they experimented with this weird, almost shoegaze-y, production, where the guitars sound more like synths, and there is practically no bass (not that weird for black metal, but I digress). Here the rhythm is very morose, the melodies very melancholic and mysterious, finally trully merging their esoteric themes and aesthetic with the sound. Cavernous and intriguing, trully unique.
If you liked this one, check these out: The Final Egg, The Lost Entrance of the Just, Abrahadabra, Maailma Kohoaa Ja Uppoaaaa (this one just closes the circle and adds full on ambient to the mix)
"STRAIGHT UP" METAL:
Armon Keitaalla
I guess sometimes they go "wait, we play black metal, right" and just, you know, do it. Enough introspectiveness, time to thrash around. Ha!... if only it was that simple... I suppose that by now you got used to their electric mode, right? So what is different here? Gotts say, not much. The trademark melodies and post-punk influence are here, but the vocals are almost exclusively rasps, the guitar tone is meanier, and sometimes you get some dissonance here and there, some rare double-bass drums and slightly faster beats, but the morose atmosphere still dominates, it's just that it's more grim.
If you liked this one, check these out: Ruumistähdet, Kuuhun Kahlittu
And that's about it for now. Still, they have many recordings that may fall outside these phases, many oddities like "Uskottomien Kirkossa/Tarpeeton" (where they just forgot to hit the distortion pedal), "Kuninkaan Tieltä" (the bass is just super distorted for whatever reason), and IPSOS (a very interesting 7" + cassette combo EP) for example, among many other several EPs and splits. Each release is a surprise, it never gets boring.
Anyway, another discography post. I had to, this band is so impenetrable, even if you're an initiated there's a chance you may get lost. Circle of Ouroborus is a Finnish black metal band. Well, sort of... They're an ever
I'm gonna post one album of each "phase" of theirs (using the term very loosely here, as they genre-hop back and forth, no linear timeline exists exactly), so that you can get to know it, see what you like best, and seek it out.
THE BEGINNING:
Shores
The humble first record. This is where we get to know the initial form. Some sort of black metal and post-punk fusion (including, yes, a Joy Division cover). Bleak, but not desolate. Esoteric, weird, just a headturner. Staying away from blast-beats, but not from the tremolo picking. As mentioned earlier, the vocals are very whiny, and nasally I guess? They're pretty unique, but comparable to something like Current 93. The recording is very garage quality, or gig-in-a-not-so-good-club quality. Not their best one overall, actually, but it sets the stone for their style, that they would develop and better later on.
If you liked this one, check these out: Tree Of Knowledge, Unituli, The Knives Beneath
UNPLUGGED:
Cast To The Pits
The theme is circle/ouroborus here, so we go back: Current 93, right? If you know, and appreciate, all that neo folk shenanigans, then you'll dig this (and thankfully, no fascist imagery/references here). Very warm lo-fi recording, and the whiny vocals are here, but they ditch away the kvlt instrumentation. What we have is mostly acoustic guitar, accompained by some soft percussion, flutes, and samples, from time to time. But do you think they would just abandon the occasional black metal rasps just because this is an acoustic album?! Hmpf... you still have much to learn.
If you liked this one, check these out: Venerations, Alttarimyllyt (this one is half electric, half acoustic), Hiljaiset Sanat
ATMOSPHERIC:
Eleven Fingers
This is a fan favorite, one of mine too. For a couple years (from 2010, roughly) they experimented with this weird, almost shoegaze-y, production, where the guitars sound more like synths, and there is practically no bass (not that weird for black metal, but I digress). Here the rhythm is very morose, the melodies very melancholic and mysterious, finally trully merging their esoteric themes and aesthetic with the sound. Cavernous and intriguing, trully unique.
If you liked this one, check these out: The Final Egg, The Lost Entrance of the Just, Abrahadabra, Maailma Kohoaa Ja Uppoaaaa (this one just closes the circle and adds full on ambient to the mix)
"STRAIGHT UP" METAL:
Armon Keitaalla
I guess sometimes they go "wait, we play black metal, right" and just, you know, do it. Enough introspectiveness, time to thrash around. Ha!... if only it was that simple... I suppose that by now you got used to their electric mode, right? So what is different here? Gotts say, not much. The trademark melodies and post-punk influence are here, but the vocals are almost exclusively rasps, the guitar tone is meanier, and sometimes you get some dissonance here and there, some rare double-bass drums and slightly faster beats, but the morose atmosphere still dominates, it's just that it's more grim.
If you liked this one, check these out: Ruumistähdet, Kuuhun Kahlittu
And that's about it for now. Still, they have many recordings that may fall outside these phases, many oddities like "Uskottomien Kirkossa/Tarpeeton" (where they just forgot to hit the distortion pedal), "Kuninkaan Tieltä" (the bass is just super distorted for whatever reason), and IPSOS (a very interesting 7" + cassette combo EP) for example, among many other several EPs and splits. Each release is a surprise, it never gets boring.
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