WORM OUROBOROS - What Graceless Dawn

Worm Ouroboros - What Graceless Dawn (2016, Profound Lore Records)

Formed of guitarist/vocalist Jessica Way (Barren Harvest), bassist/vocalist Lorraine Rath (ex-The Gault, Amber Asylum) and drummer Aesop Dekker (ex-Agalloch, Vhöl, Ludicra), Worm Ouroboros is a unique outfit that makes music near the many genres that are Doom, Jazz, chamber music, dark ambient, and death rock. Reminded me of Chelsea Wolfe and ethereal funeral doom metal at times. Released on the prestigious Canadian label Profound Lore, this Oakland based trio is making slow music that may not please every Metal head out there but it is what makes them worth your time.

The third album by Worm Ouroboros, What Graceless Dawn is my first take at the their music. With Way and Rath siren-like enchanting voices the few riffs here and there and the minimalistic drumming by Dekker makes it a monument of a platter. WO makes a genre that I am not familiar with so I won’t be doing a lot of name dropping but my review will try describe the best the music I studied for a good dozen times since I received the six tracks that composed this album. There’s however one musical act that comes in my mind, Sigur Ros, when I think of powerful yet minimalist musicians. Nonetheless, WO has its own voice compared to the Icelandic band, it is more reclusive than the intense invocations of SR. This is where the doom elements hit and make WO so difficult to categorize.

One thing that I want to mention is how I am pleased that the promo people didn’t presented them as a female fronted band. There aren’t many things that get on my nerves more than this sexist way of making a specific musical genre for a specific gender. It has to stop those she is almost as good as a guitarist dude or she screams like one of the boys. It is reducing, sexist, and insulting to everyone’s intelligence.

All in all, this is a solid album that carries the spirit of Metal in its core but with such a gentle approach that it is interesting at the least. It carries a thing that a friend once told me is about how they are great at making such buildups but sometimes the payoff isn’t there. However, as the great Alfred Hitchcock used to say it is not the catch that must be awesome the chase should be the center of your story. They make astounding chases in high levels of subtlety.

7.5