Circle of Ouroborus – most peeps know them from their early split with urfaust, and as that band with a hundred releases. Their early albums were a lot more lo-fi weirdo mix of garage rock/bm with some post punk influences—with a few being straight neo-folk. After the initial bunch of albums they transitioned to more of a dream/haze/doomish-like bm style with that special finnish melancholy and drunk/wailing sounding vocals (that may be a make or break for some people-- it has grown on me over the years). While they have a few compilations, the band would definitely benefit from having some more overarching compilations that bring together the many demos, eps and split material.
I prefer their mid/late period albums (everything after 2010) and will focus on that material. The first four albums are very hit and miss, with a lot of experimentation and a lot of misses—but there’s some decent material sprinkled throughout. They’re a band that have clearly evolved in a positive direction since the beginning (the vocalist in particular has improved his clean vocals), and while they often shift styles every few years and offer a ton of variation, they are certainly better overall now. If you're interested take a listen
Early albums (with some song recommendations if anyone is interested)
Veneration (2007)neo folk album) – Suicidal god
Streams (2007) Rotten temple
Tree of Knowledge (2009)
Islands (2009) Flight of Lucifer
Cast to the pits (2010) Remnants of a King (neo folk--I really like this one, but it has a lot of spoken word style singing---if you like current 93 and the like, might be your bag)
Unitulu (2010)
Probably my favorite album of theirs overall. I don’t really know much else that sounds quite like this. They took their hazy sounding garage bm of their early material and perfected it with a mix of clean/harsh vocals, dreamlike, trancing inducing, with some brighter textures to the riffs —always tinged with that keyboard backdrop. There is a complete otherworldly atmosphere to this one---the band truly tapped into something with this one-it’s hard to describe. The melancholy last seconds of consciousness before oblivion—lasting a few minutes but like a dream, feels longer…this album sounds like that. Highlights: All, but track 2, 3, 5, 7
Armon Keitaalla (2011)
While this is very different than Unitulu and the next string of albums afterward, it may be my second favorite release by the band. They essentially stripped everything down to a low fi raw bm style but kept the essence of their music with the melodies intact but through guitars and no keys—vocals mostly confined to their raspy style- excellent-
Lost entrance to the Just (2012)
One of their more laid-back albums---the rougher sounds definitely pushed to the background compared to previous two. The vocals are also starting to get much better here, and there are some harsh vocals used sporadically in a few tracks. Definitely pushing the dream-like limbo atmosphere hard-
Abrahadabra (2012)
Very similar sounding to the previous album, perhaps a bit doomier overall but still in the haze here-
If you like this era of the band, Lost Entrance to the Just (2012), Abrahadabra (2012), and Final Egg (2013) are all in the same vein
Kuuhun Kahlittu (2014)
There’s a shift in sound here, with the band sounding a bit more aggressive, bass is more upfront, less keys and less of a dream like haze as the previous few—the vocals are still a mix of clean and harsh here- Like the variety of tracks on this one—and I think it’s a good place to start for their later period-
Alttarimyllyt (2015) At first you think this is a continuation of the previous album—and for the first 3-4 tracks it is—then they pull a fast one and transition to a neo folk style with dark acoustics hymns, but with much improved vocals than the first few albums of their discography—really well done. For this reason, I rank this and the next album has high points in their latter discography-
Kotiinpaluu (2016) Staying with the clean vocals (again well done) for this one but with more much dynamic instrumentation—probably their most traditionally post punk---with very upfront bass and catchy melodies—one of my favorite releases by the band. Obviously the finnish language is a big factor, but a folk influenced post punk tenhi is not THAT far off here-beautiful-
Uskottomien Kirkossa/Tarpeeton (2016)
This split is notable because the “Tarpeeton” is a continuation of the sound on the previous album—entirely clean/acoustic with bouncing bass – some harsh vocals here and there incorporated as well.
Ruumistähdet (2017)
Vangin laulu (2018)
Both albums see the band back to their harsher bm style with a bit more variety sprinkled in here, a lot more guitar driven leads and less keys in the backdrop-but staying with the bass very upfront and bouncy. Both albums have some fantastic songs in this particular style-Some of this reminds me forgotten woods or that first joyless album especially with the upfront bass.
Some of their best split material:
Moonflares (2011) The Frozen Flare—some of their more laid back sounding material on this-
Circle of Ouroborus / Cosmic Church (2013) Some of their better latter day bm stuff is on this split (Cosmic Church’s side is also excellent)
Cénotaphe / Circle of Ouroborus (2018) Another great split (both sides) this is a great track—some of this reminds me of the aforementioned FG/ joyless
I prefer their mid/late period albums (everything after 2010) and will focus on that material. The first four albums are very hit and miss, with a lot of experimentation and a lot of misses—but there’s some decent material sprinkled throughout. They’re a band that have clearly evolved in a positive direction since the beginning (the vocalist in particular has improved his clean vocals), and while they often shift styles every few years and offer a ton of variation, they are certainly better overall now. If you're interested take a listen
Early albums (with some song recommendations if anyone is interested)
Veneration (2007)neo folk album) – Suicidal god
Streams (2007) Rotten temple
Tree of Knowledge (2009)
Islands (2009) Flight of Lucifer
Cast to the pits (2010) Remnants of a King (neo folk--I really like this one, but it has a lot of spoken word style singing---if you like current 93 and the like, might be your bag)
Unitulu (2010)
Probably my favorite album of theirs overall. I don’t really know much else that sounds quite like this. They took their hazy sounding garage bm of their early material and perfected it with a mix of clean/harsh vocals, dreamlike, trancing inducing, with some brighter textures to the riffs —always tinged with that keyboard backdrop. There is a complete otherworldly atmosphere to this one---the band truly tapped into something with this one-it’s hard to describe. The melancholy last seconds of consciousness before oblivion—lasting a few minutes but like a dream, feels longer…this album sounds like that. Highlights: All, but track 2, 3, 5, 7
Armon Keitaalla (2011)
While this is very different than Unitulu and the next string of albums afterward, it may be my second favorite release by the band. They essentially stripped everything down to a low fi raw bm style but kept the essence of their music with the melodies intact but through guitars and no keys—vocals mostly confined to their raspy style- excellent-
Lost entrance to the Just (2012)
One of their more laid-back albums---the rougher sounds definitely pushed to the background compared to previous two. The vocals are also starting to get much better here, and there are some harsh vocals used sporadically in a few tracks. Definitely pushing the dream-like limbo atmosphere hard-
Abrahadabra (2012)
Very similar sounding to the previous album, perhaps a bit doomier overall but still in the haze here-
If you like this era of the band, Lost Entrance to the Just (2012), Abrahadabra (2012), and Final Egg (2013) are all in the same vein
Kuuhun Kahlittu (2014)
There’s a shift in sound here, with the band sounding a bit more aggressive, bass is more upfront, less keys and less of a dream like haze as the previous few—the vocals are still a mix of clean and harsh here- Like the variety of tracks on this one—and I think it’s a good place to start for their later period-
Alttarimyllyt (2015) At first you think this is a continuation of the previous album—and for the first 3-4 tracks it is—then they pull a fast one and transition to a neo folk style with dark acoustics hymns, but with much improved vocals than the first few albums of their discography—really well done. For this reason, I rank this and the next album has high points in their latter discography-
Kotiinpaluu (2016) Staying with the clean vocals (again well done) for this one but with more much dynamic instrumentation—probably their most traditionally post punk---with very upfront bass and catchy melodies—one of my favorite releases by the band. Obviously the finnish language is a big factor, but a folk influenced post punk tenhi is not THAT far off here-beautiful-
Uskottomien Kirkossa/Tarpeeton (2016)
This split is notable because the “Tarpeeton” is a continuation of the sound on the previous album—entirely clean/acoustic with bouncing bass – some harsh vocals here and there incorporated as well.
Ruumistähdet (2017)
Vangin laulu (2018)
Both albums see the band back to their harsher bm style with a bit more variety sprinkled in here, a lot more guitar driven leads and less keys in the backdrop-but staying with the bass very upfront and bouncy. Both albums have some fantastic songs in this particular style-Some of this reminds me forgotten woods or that first joyless album especially with the upfront bass.
Some of their best split material:
Moonflares (2011) The Frozen Flare—some of their more laid back sounding material on this-
Circle of Ouroborus / Cosmic Church (2013) Some of their better latter day bm stuff is on this split (Cosmic Church’s side is also excellent)
Cénotaphe / Circle of Ouroborus (2018) Another great split (both sides) this is a great track—some of this reminds me of the aforementioned FG/ joyless
no problem duderz - Yea, unfortunately a few of the releases are vinyl only--hopefully a label picks up some of their albums and releases across formats. I have a mix of cd's/lps (i'm happy I picked up that Armon Keitaalla LP when I did--that's going to be a sought after one) ---you might be able to find some stuff pop up on euro distros occasionally-
