Dawn of Ouroboros – Bioluminescence
Release Date: 7th March 2025
Label: Prosthetic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Blackgaze, Post-Hardcore, Death Metal, Progressive Black Metal.
FFO: Jinjer, Fallujah, Vintersea.
Review By: Jeff Finch
It takes a supremely gifted band to make a listener stop mid-song and look at their device, wherever the music is emanating from, and just stare for a few moments. Dawn of Ouroboros managed to do this multiple times over the course of their newest release Bioluminescence, a testament to the technical abilities and songwriting prowess of the band.
Billed as a combination blackgaze, post-hardcore, atmospheric death metal band, is it really any surprise that the band takes these kinds of routes? At the core, Bioluminescence is an album that is going to pummel listeners: chunky riffs, obscenely fast drumming, demonic death growls, there’s certainly no shortage of heavy moments here. But it’s when the band steps away from that stage that the ears perk up and an eyebrow is raised. Slipping Burgundy has a smooth Jazz sound to it, like the band brought in Fiona Apple for a guest appearance on the record, what with Chelsea Murphy’s demonstrably powerful voice and the restrained, almost elevator music feel to the music. But it’s with the snap of a finger that the band throws off its suit coats at this dinner party and unleashes bedlam on the unsuspecting audience: tremolo riffs, double bass percussive assault, ear-splitting screams and growls, multiple time signature shifts. Almost literally an entirely different band.
And this isn’t the only song where they pull this off, either. After being pummeled for the majority of Poseidon’s Hymn, with unrelenting energy and vitriol spit out from the speakers, the band slows to a crawl, clean melodic guitar moving us forward while Murphy’s vocals take on this far away feel to them, reverb creating a wave of sound that adds to the impressive soundscape created thus far.
Even though these moments stick out because of the stark contrast and the precision with which they’re performed, the majority of this album is just punishing. The layered vocals on Dueling Sunsets are demonic, the drums mercilessly beat, switching from blast beats to just blasting the hell out of the snare, lightning quick riffs and a guitar solo thrown into the maelstrom. Static Repetition is anything but, the song a Swiss Army knife of sounds, transitioning from insanely technical death metal, the drum fills acting as Gatling guns and the band never relenting, and then at the flip of a switch we’ve got blast beats to keep the vicious maelstrom at a fever pitch, the constant shifting from one groove to another just unrelenting, unfettered ferocity.
And to close out the album in a way that should surprise no one after the first seven tracks have played, Mournful Ambience lives up to its name, an atmospheric, piano driven track with layered cleans that give a truly haunting, sorrowful sound to end the album, at one point an odd end but at another a perfect representation of the band and what they strive for.
This being my first album from Dawn of Ouroboros, I didn’t go in with any preconceived notions or expectations, which is probably for the best, because this album is chock-full of surprises and incredible performances, an album that shouldn’t have any part of it spoiled before listening, lest one’s expectations unfairly shift in one direction and influence the initial impression. They’ve crafted one hell of an excellent record here, one that needs multiple listens to truly digest, but one that listeners should have no problems blasting repeatedly.
(4.5 / 5)
