Worm Ouroboros – What Graceless Dawn (Review)

Worm Ouroborus are a doom band from the US. This is their third album.

Combining doom, dark ambient, Gothic rock, post-metal and neo-folk, Worm Ouroborus are the kind of band that easily stand out from the rest of the herd. This is not typically something you hear every day. Well, unless you listen to them every day from now on, of course.

Torturously slow, interleaved with texture and full of despondent emotion, the band their time with their music, letting it slowly, gradually unfold and expand into its spacious environment.

This is a band with a dark ethereal quality and seemingly endless melodic richness. The vocals do much to contribute to this feeling, of course, as lusciously haunting and achingly gorgeous as they are. Both vocalists sound quite angelic and their voices float in and out of the songs as if on a breeze, lightly kissing the music with their presence.

The songs on this release are so luxurious as to seem almost decadent. There’s nothing hard-edged or abrasive on here; even the drums seem subtly added to the rest of the music and are played with a warmth and nuance lacking in most metal performances.

What Graceless Dawn is an album of contrasts, although these are not blatantly portrayed. The interplay between darkness and light is the most obvious one, manifesting itself in various ways throughout the album, but most notably in the alluring, exquisite music and vocals, that nonetheless are shot through with negative emotion and dark feelings. This is all presented with such a beautiful veneer you can almost fail to notice the dark heart that beats beneath the rich exterior of the songs. Almost.

The average metal fan might not get too much satisfaction from this in some ways, but it’s most definitely their loss as What Graceless Dawn is an album of resplendent beauty and calm sadness. Although it’s not completely perfect in execution, it’s close enough to not matter and this is 63 minutes of enchanting, beguiling musical art.

Looking for something a bit different with a dark beauty? This is an important listen.