ALBUM REVIEW: Velvet Incandescence – Dawn Of Ouroboros
DAWN OF OUROBOROS may only have formed a little over five years ago, but the Oakland-based quintet have quickly risen to be one of the most intriguing acts within the US’ vibrant extreme metal scene. Their debut album, The Art Of Morphology, showcased a band with an almost fully formed sound, with blackened death metal, post-metal and progressive elements coalescing together to create a sound that was as aggressive at points as it was experimental and cinematic in others, garnering the band some well deserved acclaim early on and setting a high benchmark for them to surpass. Their second album, Velvet Incandescence, builds on the many strengths of their debut, further establishing their reputation as one of the most inventive extreme metal acts out there presently.
Healing Grounds, with its soaring vocals and ethereal ambience, is an angelic way to start the record, adopting a progressive style that gradually builds towards a fiercer approach, with acerbic vocals, intricate drumming and rabid guitar hooks replacing the glorious minimalism of its opening moments. Lurching between musical extremes, whilst still making room for virtuosic riffs and crushing grooves, this is an incredibly ambitious way to kick things off. Testudines possesses an urgent pace, coupling this with lighter distortion that provides an energetic edge, along with machine gun precision from the drums and howling vocals. These darker motifs counterpoint the slick, power metal-esque leads and cleaner vocals perfectly, blending the various influences within the sound more effectively.
Iron Whispers is a slow-burner, introducing jangling guitars and bubbling bass into the mix; with discordant, rhythmic bursts of aggression, this possesses a weightier backbone around which experimental elements are layered, never leaning too heavily into either the punchy or visceral aspects that are present throughout. Levitating Pacifies embraces the crystalline, post-rock guitar sound and pairs it with a subtle, jarring quality that sets a sinister tone, before suddenly bursting into a ferocious, speed-driven slab of blackened death metal, albeit with a polished production and progressive flourishes peppered throughout, the sound far removed from the sublime style that it began on.
Rise From Disillusion is a relentlessly bestial and belligerent song with lots of thunderous drums, angular guitars and vocals that are almost exclusively arid shrieks or gutturals, stripping away much of the band’s softer side aside from a haunting middle section centred upon clean vocals and keyboards, and proving to be most consistently caustic number so far. Castigation serves as a short piece of music that leans towards the catchier components of the band’s sound, with even the denser sections having a solid, catchy groove to them that is punchier than earlier offerings.
Cephalopodic Void shifts its dramatic sound in the opposite direction, with dissonant guitars, throaty gutturals and tighter, claustrophobic rhythms interspersed with a few disjointed melodies to provide a brief burst of chaotic, intense blackened death metal that draws the listener in. Velvet Moon is another great track that balances the atmospheric, cleaner side of the music and its denser, bleaker extremity, with the resulting noxious mix of styles providing one of this album’s most progressive additions. The track remains surprisingly upbeat in spite of its feral undercurrent, making for an epic and climactic end to the record.
With Velvet Incandescence, DAWN OF OUROBOROS have managed to creatively push themselves to new heights, with the myriad influences and wide-ranging approach of this album being reminiscent of bands like OCEANS OF SLUMBER and NE OBLIVISCARIUS, intricately weaving together blackened death metal with post-rock, power metal and progressive metal in a way that very few bands could even hope to attempt, let alone do successfully. The band have successfully built upon the foundations of their debut, crafting a far wider-ranging and more impressive style that still manages to be lean and punchy, and if they continue on this creative trajectory, album number three could very well see DAWN OF OUROBOROS rise to even worldwide prominence as one of the premier purveyors of progressive metal.
Rating: 8/10
Velvet Incandescence is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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