Bay Area extreme metallers Dawn of Ouroboros released their latest album last weekend, “Bioluminescence,” and I absolutely LOVE it. I take my extreme metal in smaller doses and prefer it to have great melodies and unique qualities, and this does both in spades. This is blackened death metal with heavy progressive elements while also incorporating a large dose of shoegazer and even some jazz. That may sound odd at first, but it works so well. The song compositions are crafted well, with beautiful use of dynamic contrast and transitions that never feel awkward. The band is super comfortable being laid back, smooth, and melodic, and then turning on a dime and melting your face off. Vocalist Chelsea Murphy leads the charge with her absolutely brutal gutterals and shrieks juxtaposed against her velvety and dreamy cleans that both mesmerize and destroy. The guitars ooze atmosphere and melody, and the drumming on this album steals the show with its incredible technicality and constant blastbeats.

The album starts with the title track, which sprints out of the gate before lulling you into a shoegaze dream. Chelsea’s silky vocals draw you in before she bites your head off, playing a game of cat and mouse with technical brutality contrasted with atmospheric melodies. “Nebulae” is the heaviest track, a progressive black metal assault with a melodic underbelly. “Slipping Burgundy” has feels similar to Seven Spires’ “Love’s Souvenir,” transporting you to a jazz speakeasy, building atmosphere until it wreaks havoc on your ears, and then dancing between crushing and velvety sections enroute to its finale. “Poseidon’s Hymn” is very melodic and dreamy while still super heavy. “Dueling Sunsets” is my favorite, with a killer drum-driven intro and amazing song composition contrasting brutality and beauty. I love the melodies in this song and find them stuck in my head regularly. Closer “Mournful Ambience” is a bit different, hauntingly beautiful piano-driven shoegaze that ends things on a somber note.

This album is beautiful brutality at its finest, and it gets better the more I listen.

Original Instagram review link