_________________________________________________________________________
| . . | . | . | . | . | | . | . | , |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | > | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | ` | ' | | | ' | | ` | ' | ' |
___|___|___|___|_______|_______|___|___|_______|___|_______|_______|_______|___
\______________________________________|______________________________________/
/ \
| Artist..: Circle of Ouroborus |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| Album...: Autuala |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| Genre...: Black Metal | Label...: His Wounds |
| Year....: 2022 | Cat.No..: |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| R.date..: 2023-09-21 | S.date..: 2022-09-02 |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| Source..: WEB (24bit) | Encoder.: libFLAC |
| Bitrate.: 1698kbps avg. | F.Rate..: 48.0kHz |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| http://hiswounds.bandcamp.com/album/circle-of-ouroborus-autuala |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| Disc 1 / 1 |
| -------- |
| |
| 01. Nakemisen Taito 5:45 |
| 02. Kuu Siunasi Minut 5:48 |
| 03. Vaakalauta 4:42 |
| 04. Tietoisuuden Verhojen Takana 6:59 |
| 05. Uusi Polku 5:05 |
| 06. Virta 4:01 |
| 07. Autuala 4:53 |
| 08. Ikoni 3:07 |
| 09. Varjot 5:31 |
| |
| |
| --------------------- |
| (584.45MB) 00:45:51 |
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
| Coming a few months after Album No 20 "Aavikon Varjo" and - unbelievably! |
| - at almost the same time as another new album "Thurisa", this new release |
| is very much in the style of "Vimeinen juoksu": a blackened post-punk work |
| with a dark, dejected outlook, this time though with a cleaner sound and a |
| discreet, cold keyboard ambience. The angry vocals are etched in reverb |
| and together with fairly clean guitar tones and the keyboards give the |
| recording a bleak and desolate urban blues air. Even CoO's trademark |
| unearthly voices, set in the far distance, have this desperate quality as |
| melancholy and dejectedness on the edge of the abyss turn into rage. |
| |
| Out there in some grey-black no-man's-land where the landscape is one |
| level black desert and even the skies are clear shades of dark grey, with |
| no cloud to give them a bit of tonal contrast and interest, the musicians |
| play nine songs of spiky guitar riffs, vocals filled with venom and steady |
| percussion. Guitar tones have enough grit to sound tough but are otherwise |
| bell-like and clear, and this clarity makes them stand out even more |
| against the huge black spaces behind the music. While the songs are |
| clearly structured like pop songs, with the lyrics and guitar riffs |
| dominant in a minimal style of music, at the same time they are rather |
| forbidding, even a bit sinister. |
| |
| While the genre of these songs tends towards blackened post-punk, some |
| tracks like "N kemisen taito", the title track and "Uusi polku" have a |
| clear straight-out black metal orientation in their melodies, pace and |
| structure. "Vaakalauta" leans towards mediaeval folk / dungeon synth in |
| its initial melodies and at least one instrumental passage where guitars |
| or keyboards appear to imitate bagpipes. Later songs from the title track |
| onwards feature a slightly wider range of instruments (synths coming to |
| the fore in the title piece) and Antti Klemi's familiar high-pitched |
| chanting, emotionally remote, distant and otherworldly, becomes a bit more |
| prominent. |
| |
| Compared to other recent full-length recordings, "Autuala" may disappoint |
| those CoO fans expecting more variety and inspiration in genre, atmosphere |
| and sonic texture. The songs don't have their own clear musical identity |
| but share in the same desolate mood and clean minimal presentation. |
| Long-time CoO fans may find "Autuala" among the least quirky and |
| individual of the duo's albums. What I come away with after hearing |
| "Autuala" is an impression of a depressive, almost suicidal dark urban |
| blues soundscape: physically it might look busy and full but spiritually |
| it is a complete vacuum. That may be the message we're supposed to pick up |
| from "Autuala". |
\_____________________________________________________________________________/
ixxu!imp