Compilation of old Circle of Ouroborus tracks. According to Discogs, the two sides of the LP were originally intended to be used on two different splits with Urfaust. The compilation showcases a great mix of early CoO styles, including acoustic tracks, tracks with a more ambient focus, and of course, their signature style of black metal.
Usually in my reviews I just plough straight into the music and chew it to shreds before I say anything about the item's packaging but I'll make an exception here and go straight for the cover which I like a lot - it's three big rubbish dumpsters so full of toxic stuff that the rats and insects are running away while slugs crawl up the side of one filthy container. Wonder if that's some kind of comment the band is making about the music inside! Very funny if that's so - there hasn't been that much humour to be found in CoO's recent albums. "Old Ghosts" is a compilation of tracks that were meant to go on two split albums with another black metal band Urfaust but that idea never materialised so the songs, ten altogether, have been released on one package. These demonstrate CoO as a fuzzy pop-oriented urban blues kind of black metal act with a flair for catchy melody plus some willingness on CoO's part to try playing folky and acoustic music and singing in a different style from what the duo usually does.
Some tracks stand out above the garage rock / punk-styled fuzzed-over black metal that currently is the default mode for CoO. "In Your Heart, In Your Soul" is voice (mostly spoken), electric guitar and some effects treated with reverb in a way that makes the song sinister and forlorn at the same time. Some very nice melodies exist in there though I have a hunch that if the song had been a bit slower in parts, especially during the chorus and when there are key changes, there might be more feeling and atmosphere that would help connect the track more with listeners. "Heaven for Worms" has catchy tunes and a good rhythm groove and I have the impression the CoO guys are actually getting some enjoyment out of playing this song. "Northstar" is an acoustic piece featuring actual singing - OK, the vocals are bigger on ambition and enthusiasm than on technique - and a melody that's almost lively. If they really want to, CoO can write and play some very poppy melodies as it's obvious from just a few songs in the first half of the album that they do have the knack but poppy melodies obviously don't fit into the game plan.
It wouldn't be a CoO album without an instrumental piece and "A Toast to Time" is a very atmospheric one with a repeating guitar riff, some woodwind-like tones and sinister ringing percussion. "Flowing through the Mist of Oblivion" features a different vocal style from previous tracks that's in keeping with slightly countrified rock-pop melodies that drop the heavy reverb treatment for a light touch. For "Death", CoO opt for another jaunty folk guitar strumfest with singing that's almost drunkenly happy which is an eccentric combination for a song about someone dying.
The music really picks up when CoO move away from a production style that smudges reverb and blur all over the vocals and backing music so that everything is in a steamy dank fuzz, and head off in a direction of folk or country and western influence without losing the garage rock / punk groove. It's as if the atmosphere opens up, clean winter air with a frosty bite rushes in and our heads feel less stuffy so we can hear the lyrics and melodies better. With reverb, the vocals nearly turn into wash that bleeds into the guitars. I'm beginning to wonder if CoO have less confidence than I do in their singing: for sure their ability to keep in tune with the music wavers though these days this is much less of a problem than it was with "Shores", CoO's first album that I know. I think the vocal ideal that CoO are following is Ian Curtis of the late 1970s English new wave band Joy Division - Curtis had a half-singing / half-speaking vocal style that could be kind of stern and commanding yet vulnerable on Joy Division classics like "She's Lost Control", "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Heart and Soul" - but there is an endearing charm about CoO's occasionally seesawing vocal style that I wouldn't like them to give up. (The other possible vocal inspiration may be Mark E Smith of 1980's English band The Fall.) I see these guys moving in a more melodic and less blurry direction eventually, going a little bit folksy, a little bit ambient and maybe a little bit more pop but still keeping that lo-fi garage rock and a bit of spacey weirdness. What a tall order.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=VHbpRLTHKSg
