乐队列表 Avantgardiste Black Circle Of Ouroborus The Final Egg

If there’s one thing Circle of Ouroborus won’t be accused of, it’s that they never change their sound. From the punk fueled quirkiness of Shores and Streams to the atmospherically dense and layered Unituli and Tree of Knowledge to the bright and poppy The Lost Entrance of the Just, Circle of Ouroborus are a band constantly in transition. Whilst certain albums may have suffered a bit in terms of poor song writing execution (Streams, Shores, Eleven Fingers) the band has always had that experimental and progressive edge to them that I admire. The Final Egg continues with the bands progression, and although it lacks the atmospheric intensity of some of the bands other releases, this is still a respectable addition into the bands expansive catalog.

The Final Egg adds back some of the metallic intensity that was absent from The Lost Entrance of the Just. The vocals have more bite and venom to them, creating a more aggressive upfront approach to the music. This is most apparent in the opening track Closing the Door, where, instead of mumbling and crooning through the tracks duration, Antti handles his vocals with more power and determination than he has shown before. The vocal melodies themselves are incredibly catchy, and offer interesting patterns in how the lyrics are delivered. Apart from sounding dreary and worn out, Antti sounds more energetic and aggressive, reverting back to the tone found on the bands earlier releases whilst lacking the oddities that those albums presented. Antti has definitely improved as a vocalist, his singing contains that little bit extra to make it more edgy and distinctive. This is a complete turn around from the previous album of there’s I have heard, in The Lost Entrance of the Just Antti sounded tired, worn out, as though he was prone to collapsing due to sheer exhaustion at any time. Antti sounds more assured, confident in The Final Egg and although his voice still has that somber, yet ethereal edge to it, The Final Egg comes across as far more upbeat and lively.

Musically, this feels like a amalgamation of the bands previous releases, it has a similar upbeat tone to Unituli and The Lost Entrance of the Just whilst the music is energetic and evocative, akin to Tree of Knowledge. Whilst the metallic elements have been dropped in favor of a more ambient, shoegazing direction, the harder elements of the bands sound appear to be making a come back. The songs are faster, less minimalistic than they have been, and although it robs the music of the trance inducing effect of the previous albums, it does create an album that is easier to digest and one that is not so susceptible to monotony. The music is more varied, with interesting rhythms and melodies, The Final Egg shows massive improvements where song writing is concerned. The bass plays a bigger part in the music, constantly audible, with each note chiming through the music, adding more depth and weight to the music. The guitar tone still sounds quite flat mind you, focusing on a hazier, perhaps one could say warmer tone than what the band utilized on their earliest releases. The guitar tone, because of this, has a tendency to get rather irritating as it lacks that much needed sharpness and instead sounds dull and hollow. However, the band have balanced that out with much more refined vocals from Antti and good bass and drum performances.

Whilst The Final Egg does show improvements in terms of song writing, I can’t help but feel that I’ve already been here before. The Final Egg does nothing to reinvent the wheel and instead feels like a rehashing of (good) ideas, unfortunately this robs the music of any identity and thus isn’t as much as a stand out in the bands already enormous discography. As a whole, The Final Egg feels rushed, and although the music has some new twist and turns; the song writing is more dynamic and varied, it doesn’t feel as though the band is challenging themselves. Sure, the song writing is pretty darn good and the vocals are great, but the band is not experimenting with any new ideas, simply carrying on with the direction started on Unituli. Although this isn’t itself a problem, as the bands new found softer, more ambient delivery has resulted in moments of splendor, The Final Egg isn’t as noteworthy as the bands prior works.

Overall I’m not sure where I stand on this one, the song structures have certainly improved, allowing for a more dynamic and varied album, but the rest of the music feels weak in comparison. The melodies aren’t distinctive enough and the atmosphere isn’t as provocative as it used to be. The weird synthesis of genres that the band has come to be defined by isn’t as noticeable as it has been, sounding more along the lines of a heavy shoegazing record in comparison to the crazy fusions of post punk, ambient, black metal and indie of their early days. For what it’s worth, I do like it, it doesn’t reach the same heights of some of the bands other releases but in general it’s pretty good. It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the likes of Tree of Knowledge and Unituli, but is a respectable addition in to the bands discography and well worth checking out for fans of the band, just don’t be expecting something revolutionary.