Streams

If there’s one band that I’d describe as difficult, it’d be Circle of Ouroborus, it’s not that I find the music particularly difficult to listen to; rather it’s a case of too many good moments hampered by so many oddities and unnecessary sections that simply do not work in with the music. Compared to Shores though, this is a massive step up in quality. The band seems to have dropped much of the oddities that made Shores such a taxing and frustrating listen and handle their craft with much greater care. Streams is still whacky as hell punked up black metal, but compared to Shores the song writing feels much more mature and refined.

The punk elements of their sound have become more pronounced with the release of Streams and the black metal elements have become less apparent. The guitars still have a buzz to them and the compositions are overall still simplistic with only a few riffs per song. The black metal blueprint of the bands sound has remained yet when compared to Shores the punk rock elements have become more apparent. This is most apparent in the rhythm section, which, in comparison to a lot of other black metal bands carries with it a highly rhythmic and even bouncy approach to the music. However, the more punk oriented nature of the music means that tracks lack any distinctive melodies and as such it’s quite an unmemorable release which is unfortunate as the band have no doubt improved since Shores.

In comparison to Shores the vocals are much easier to stomach, the vocalist seems much more confident in his craft, and whilst sections are still half spoken, the lyrics are sang with much greater conviction and when mixed with the more punk oriented style, actually compliment the music well. Whilst Shores offered suffered from an identity crisis when the band couldn’t figure out whether they were trying to play black metal, punk, or both, Streams has a much stronger sense of identity and the album is thankfully a lot less off beat. The music is more grounded and the band seems more confident with their work. As a whole, Streams doesn’t feel as disjointed and awkward, as more effort has been put onto the guitars this time round rather than letting the vocals steal the spotlight.

However, the atmospheric department is quite lacking when compared to Shores. Shores, despite its (many) flaws managed to mix depressive and atmospheric black metal with quirky and upbeat punk, it was an odd mixture but one that had moments of grandeur. Streams on the other hand feels like the band is going through the motions of album writing, rather than being spurred on by passion, the album feels forced. It doesn’t seem like Circle of Ouroborus had their hearts in this album during the recording sessions, and obviously whilst the vocals have been improved, the music feels quite tired and lacks the more upbeat nature of Shores. Yes, I appreciate the more focus on the garage punk sections, but there’s no reason for the rest of the music to sound so lackluster. Whilst there are moments of a more traditional take on black metal, with Timbre Noir pt 3 actually being quite depressing and atmospheric, despite only being a short interlude, much of the album seems to have tried to emulate a black atmosphere based solely on the tone of the guitars and the production. There’s no real hatred or malice behind these compositions and the whole album just gives off an aura of laziness and lack of effort. Still, at odd times this languid atmosphere works quite well, especially during moments when the band stops trying to be a black metal band and focus predominantly on the punk side of things. The first track is the definite highlight with a catchy vocal melody and highly rhythmic guitar lines. For much of the album however, the guitars feel lifeless and dull whilst the vocals sound worn out, despite their more determined delivery.

Circle of Ouroborus is a band who I just cannot make my mind up about, whilst there are certainly moments of grandeur, with the first track being the best song on the album, much of the music is bogged down by ideas that are just so lifeless. The guitars just drone on much of the time without any sense of direction, and whilst at times they are highly rhythmic, the rest of the album just feels so bland in comparison. My major problem with this band though is how they seem to rest on the vocals almost like a crutch, and thus more focus was placed on refining the vocals than on the rest of the music, which results in a rather disjointed and vocal heavy sound. Circle of Ouroborus really need to add more work on the music and stop focusing on the vocals as much, overall the band feels like a gimmick in their current incantation as they seem to be trying to get by exclusively on how odd the singing is. My advice, work more on the music and stop focusing on the vocals so much. Vocals aren’t the only instrument you know!

Follow-up to the debut album "Shores", this album continues in a more punk-influenced and slightly less BM-oriented direction. The BM elements are most apparent in the guitar work which can still be pretty buzzy but the jangly effect has gone. One positive change is in the singing which is now much more assured and has a distinct style: the guy still can't sing that great and the singing is often half-spoken but at least he consistently hits the right notes and he's experimenting more with what his voice can do. Of course, this does mean the Homer Simpson quality has gone which robs the album of the whimsy and eccentricity the first album has.

All the songs are good though they no longer have very catchy tunes so only a few stick out despite the duo changing musical style from one track to the next. The opener "Wounds Are so Indifferent" has a brief stormy intro that is wiped out quickly by the song proper; the singer makes a valiant stab at singing near the upper end of his range. This song, like many of the others, is riff-driven with minimal repetitive melodies and drumming that while good, isn't very much out of the ordinary. Even so, the duo have a great driving sound and the guitars, when they go vibrato and acquire a hive-of-hornets sound, have a really menacing air as demonstrated on early tracks like "Streams to Depression" and the rock-n-roll "The Rotten Temple" (notable for growling vocals). Moving along, "The End" - no, we haven't moved that far, this song is actually only halfway through! - is an acoustic guitar piece which is a bit on the cringeworthy side but you gotta applaud the guys for attempting something out of their comfort zone. "Timbre Noir pt 3", following on from part 2 on "Shores", is an all-instrumental BM fuzz guitar piece which isn't quite as fuzzy and stormy as part 2 but at least puts the fellas back where we like 'em. On "Chained Howl", the guys use a slightly different vocal technique - it sounds a weeny bit like the singing on the late 1970s UK band This Heat's first album which was reissued last year - to fit in with the song's lazy loping, almost-collapsing drunken structure. The musicians play as though they're fighting through a thick fog of a hangover in their heads and towards the end the singing gets really falsetto and faint. This is the obvious highlight of the entire record!

"Visions of the Dead Serpent" is our duo on autopilot for a while until they wake up enough to do that strummy wobbling high-pitched lead guitar bit; from then on the song improves with some genuinely vicious singing (including some roars!) and more passages of quivering BM guitar. "Anonym", the second all-acoustic guitar piece and also all-instrumental, has the only really memorable melody on the album but it is so repetitive that it seems just like a tape loop. What a waste. Outro track "Song of Silence" is the fuzziest and doomiest song, very similar in some ways to the last track on "Shores", with some distorted deep growling alongside the deadpan singing.

Originally I had intended just to point out a few tracks I thought were the best but I was listening to the album while writing this review fairly loudly so I obviously zoned right into it. The first few times I heard "Streams", it didn't strike me as very outstanding compared to "Shores" so I suppose if I hadn't known that album, "Streams" might have made more of an impression on me. Just goes to show when you review something by a band whose other stuff you've heard before, all that history comes to bear on what you write to the extent you may be unaware that you're not being objective or fair to the item under review. Overall, C of O have done an efficient job in creating another garage punk / BM fusion album and you can hear they have grown more confident in what they do (especially in the singing) even though the result is not as off-beat as you'd like. The guys could very well be moving in a post-BM direction; if they do, they'll need more distinctive melodies to compensate for the lessening BM influence.

The best tracks are "The Rotten Temple" and "Chained Howl". I'm not too sure about "The End", I feel quite embarrassed for the guys but maybe with time I'll accept it and even think it's quite good. That's how it is with such a strongly idiosyncratic band like Circle of Ouroborus!