Review: Haar – Ouroboros

Style: dissonant black metal, prog black metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Imperial Triumphant
Review by: Andy
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 4 August 2023

Meandering guitar parts should grip like an unseen cephalopod’s tentacles in the murky depths before dragging me–struggling–downwards; harsh screams should cut deep like hooks into my fleshy tissue; and a drummer’s rhythmic palpitations should bring me to the brink of sanity. I want music to make me feel slimy, music to induce stifling claustrophobia. These feelings of inexpressible, perverse dread apotheosize the very best dissonant metal. Haar enter the pantheon with Ouroboros but don’t quite fully ascend to the rank of god. 

Haar weaponize all the traits that make for the best dissonant black metal, and the band uses them well. After an admittedly slow intro track informing a “Benumbing Ruin,” “The Anticipated Fist of Gelid Trauma” lurches forward with a skronky bass riff like a less technicality-oriented Ad Nauseam. The dual guitar attack of Guillaume Martin and Gerald Chau (Ashenspire) contort and throb and bicker, rarely finding any harmonic agreement. As “The Anticipated Fist of Gelid Trauma” headily builds, the mature progressions bring to mind Thantifaxath (in the spinose vocals of Gareth Cook), Ars Magna Umbrae (with the hideous yet regal guitar parts), and SkyThala (with the varied, epic track structure). And the momentum Haar have continues straight through into “A Boreal Tomb Has Shaped This Being” all the way to Ouroboros’ conclusion where I’m reminded of the benumbing ruin Haar strive to cause.

While Haar perform interesting, varied dissoblack, Ouroboros hardly breaks any new ground. From the lovely pretension dripping from the song titles like stalactites to the technique borrowed from acts like Blut Aus Nord and Scarcity, I’m rather comfortable listening to Ouroboros in a genre where I want to feel a profound discomfort. Even the warped track structures–which are a constant attempt to obfuscate expectations with clever transitions–are familiar, as if Haar’s writing is too refined. Each movement jumps to the next so slickly I don’t have a chance to feel strangled.

This compositional excellence certainly isn’t problematic on its own, however. Full of virtuosic performance and enough changes to remain engrossing, Ouroboros still is near technically flawless even if a tad too guarded. For instance, the centerpiece track (and contender for song title o’ the year) “Of Verglas and Vicissitude” has a head-swimmingly precarious main riff. As the blast beat section begins, Haar continually feels like their thread is going to be unraveled, but the band repeats this abstruse pattern again and again, expertly calculated chaos. The section needs to be played several times just to comprehend how all the various instrumental performers interact. The only obvious improvement would be a startling Opethian acoustic break, especially with the powerful, cacophonous onslaught that is the beginning of subsequent track “A Bitter Assimilation”. 

“A Bitter Assimilation” does suddenly shock the system with clean vocals over forty minutes into the album, a slightly unsteady baritone. The technical imperfection of the style does achieve a nice effect in conjunction with the exactitude of the vacillating guitar riffs, and further helping me overlook the slightly lacking clean vocals is the complete instrumental mastery Haar has already demonstrated to that point. Drummer Hamish MacKintosh is particularly brilliant while never dominating the sound. Despite rarely taking a lead, his constant blasts are metronomic and his fills instinctually seal every gap left by the squabbling guitars–who are wickedly excellent themselves, sounding like a mix of Blut Aus Nord and Ad Nauseam. The bass, too, steadily performs as counterpoint to the guitars but is unfortunately usually a bit hidden in the bottom of the mix, providing more feeling of presence than a full sonic one. 

After listening to Ouroboros, I don’t feel quite benumbed by ruin as they heralded like I’d hoped. Never straying far from their contemporaries, I want them to find a bit more of an identity because they clearly have the skill and songwriting ability to truly blow my mind in the future. I just need a bit more of a thrilling grip on my throat, a perverse discomfort. I want Haar to do something crazy, spur a mesmeric dread that makes me question my sanity and existence. Ouroboros is far beyond mere competence, just a stone’s throw away from the gods.

Recommended tracks: The Anticipated Fist of Gelid Trauma, Refugia (Trial by Hostile Endurance), Of Verglas & Vicissitude
You may also like: Drowstorm, SkyThala, Nemesis Sopor, Ashenspire, Panegyrist, Ars Magna Umbrae, Thantifaxath, Dodecahedron, Ad Nauseam, Kostnatění
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: Aeternitas Tenebrarum Musicae Fundamentum

Haar is:
– Gareth Cook (vocals)
– Guillaume Martin (guitars)
– Steve Shanks (bass)
– Hamish MacKintosh (drums)
– Gerald Chau (guitars)