Since forming in Oakland, California in 2018, Dawn Of Ouroborus have have been peddling a rather nice line in progressive post-black/death metal. With two critically-acclaimed albums under their collective belts, this multi-headed hydra have spread their tentacles all over North America. Album number three, Bioluminescence, finds them further honing their sound to produce a record that should garner them some global attention.

Black metal, perhaps more than any other genre, soon became codified by its own set of rules and regulations. Bands played within certain parameters (and woe betide those who stepped beyond) and their releases were housed in equally generic black and white sleeves. Those rules quickly became a straightjacket and the scene almost died as quickly as it began. Thankfully there are bands such as Dawn Of Ouroboros to paint our world with bold splashes of colour, and all without sacrificing the heaviness that characterised the original movement. That this crew are heavy becomes immediately obvious via the opening (and title) track. There’s no time for fancy introductions or elongated preambles, the band arrive like a rockfall, and is all the more powerful for it. It’s a bullet appearing between the eyes or a knife in the back, you don’t so much hear it as feel its impact and it demands your full attention. ‘Bioluminescence’ is not the type of song you play as background music, it’s bombastic and boisterous and refuses to have its existence denied. However, there’s plenty of light and shade to the Dawn Of Ouroboros experience; ethereal solos juxtapose weighty riffs, guttural vocals nestle next to clean, whilst quiet sections highlight the loud. It turns this album into a diamond, and one that fractures light in all directions.

Lyrically Bioluminescence is inspired by the ocean and the life that lurks beneath and the music is just as weighty and bears down upon the listener like a sea upon a shipwreck. Take ‘Slipping Burgundy’ for example, an epic track that drags one down to delirious depths as if an anchor tied to a drowning man, yet the progressive nature of Dawn Of Ouroboros means that they don’t remain in one sonic space for long; just as you begin to suffocate beneath their oppression they release the pressure and allow in rays of glorious sunlight. It is this constant, a push and pull over the eight tracks which ensures the album never becomes staid and the tight lyrical focus means that it has the feel of a concept album. While it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out, this record is best consumed in one sitting to fully appreciate its tidal ebb and flow.

Album number three (and their second for Prosthetic) finds the band going from strength to strength and is another sure step towards global domination.

• Bioluminescence is released via Prosthetic Records on 7th March 2025.
• Official Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | X | YouTube Channel

Track List:

1. Bioluminescence
2. Nebulae
3. Slipping Burgundy
4. Poseidon’s Hymn
5. Dueling Sunsets
6. Static Repetition
7. Fragile Tranquillity
8. Mournful Ambience