Maailma uppoaaaa

Companion EP to a previous release "Maailma kohoaa" ("The World Ascending"), "Maailma Uppoaaaa" translates more or less as "The World Sinking". Certainly this is a very downbeat recording but with Circle of Ouroborus, we expect no less. At this stage in their career, the duo might have delivered a bit more: as with other recordings of theirs I've heard, this one features a muddy and blurred production which blunts some of the band's sharpness and a dark depressive mood throughout. Antti Klemi's vocals seem to be in tune for once and are not too bad. There is echo over them and they seem distant so any emotional impact they make ends up remote.

The EP starts off well with very quiet, almost inaudible background sounds: a constant electronic beep-beep signal, deep strumming strings and other muted noises suggestive of something waking up slowly and warming up. The sinister ambience of wavering tones and deeper-sounding drones, joined later by voices in apocalyptic-prophet mode, create an uneasy and unsettled setting for the music to follow. Close to the halfway mark, the duo thunders in with their familiar black metal / post-punk music, this time heavy and ponderous and with a formidable guitar sound thanks to the muddy quality of the recording. The percussion can be bombastic with moments of clashing cymbals. At about the 13th minute the music stalls with clouds of tremolo guitar fuzz, Klemi's vocal declaiming overhead like a stern god and another fainter vocal repeating over and over robot-like deep in the music.

For what it does over 18 minutes, this EP starts off with a good bang but peters out to a thin and disappointing finish. I'm not even sure where the band lost focus and seemed to give up. If the conclusion was intentional, then the guys should have rethought this whole thing. This recording surely goes down as one of CoO's more forgettable recordings.