Album Review: Age of the Wolf – Ouroboric Trances (Aural Music)

Costa Rican doom metallers Age of the Wolf are set to release their debut full-length, Ouroboric Trances, on May 17th in digital, CD, and vinyl formats via Aural Music.  This fuzz-worshipping outfit delivers crushing riffs and epic melodies, backed by an apocalyptic rhythm section that crosses all spectrums of the sludge/stoner/doom genre.

Working their doom magic to create an album few will want to miss out on, Age of the Wolf’s Ouroboric Trances is 8 tracks of rhythmic metal that burrows it’s way into the skull. Entrancing heaviness, mind-altering fuzziness and addictive melodic segments. It’s a degenerative listen, in that the likes of the opener Hearld of Abyssos takes us back to a time where we were nothing but primordial sludge with dreams and aspirations of being something much more.

As starts go, it’s near perfect. The slow march of the doomy drums, the filthy guitar riffs and crusty vocals combining to make a track few will want to miss out on.

How do you top that? By taking the riffs down to an even darker and more fuzzed out level. Unholy is every bit as crushing as you could hope it to be whereas Goliath lightens the mood just a tad with a sincere sounding bit of guitar melody. It does eventually kick it up a notch (or down depending on your point of view) whereupon the drums hammer out an incredible level of noise and the guitars reach new levels of dirty fuzz. It’s a little more disjointed then what we’ve heard so far but it still works.

Seeing the bar for doom this year and dismissing it as not even worthy, Age of the Wolf keep the riffs rolling with The Crimson Penitence and Goddess of the Hunt before we get a wonderful melodic break in the form of Witches’ Gallows. The opening violin section, fantastically haunting and leading into sombre guitars and a subtle drum beat. The whispering that sits far in the background gives it an extra depth of disturbing noise before it loses complete control for a powerful finish.

The penultimate track Bloodrage makes a strong play for being the heaviest track on the album. Quite a statement but one realised by the absolute crush-fest on show. One that will stay with you long afterwards.

After keeping things mostly short, it’s then down to Molten Earth to wrap things up in epic fashion. Coming in at just under 10 minutes, we get everything great (which is quite a lot) about Age of the Wolf. Spacey and psychedelic at first with the hum of bass. Followed by the rumble of fuzzed out doom built on a foundation of twisted vocals that vomit up blackness and riffs. With nothing but the end of everything on their mind.

It’s not only the most expansive because of the length but also the most epic sounding. As it takes us up and down through every filthy element Age of the Wolf has to offer. As well as throwing out the most impressive melodic segment of the entire album. It’s a near perfect ending.

Age of the Wolf – Ouroboric Trances Full Track Listing:

1. Herald of Abyssos
2. Unholy
3. Goliath
4. The Crimson Penitence
5. Goddess of the Hunt
6. Witches’ Gallows
7. Bloodrage
8. Molten Earth

The album can be ordered via Bandcamp and you can find our more via Age of the Wolf’s Facebook Page.