What Graceless Dawn, which is the third album from dark ambient/experimental band Worm Ouroboros, is a stunning little beauty and a hell of an immersive listen.
Worm Ouroboros take a fairly simplistic and sparse approach to the delivery of their music for the most part, and it works really well for them. The colour and emotion to the music is truly something to behold, with the morose and ambient vocal delivery painting a stunning picture and leading the album well as it flows from song to song. Sometimes less is more, and that is certainly the case when it comes to What Graceless Dawn. Worm Ouroboros have essentially used the bare minimum for each of the tracks, and it makes them stronger as a result, as there’s no unnecessary elements to distract your attention away from the beauty and ambience of it all.
The album feels like one continuous track, which is both good and bad – good in the sense that there’s a definite unity to everything, and the flow is absolutely superb, with everything slotting perfectly together. However on the other hand, it subsequently means that it’s difficult to dip in and out of the album – and in this day and age of the digital shuffle culture, the songs don’t quite manage to stand up on their own as they don’t seem to have their own identities, so to speak, as a fair chunk of the album utilises a lot of similar ideas and approaches.
Nevertheless, What Graceless Dawn is a fine album. The atmosphere really draws you in, and it makes for an absolutely tremendous listen as a result.
8.5/10
