Album Review: Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze – “The Fractal Ouroboros” (RABM)

Written by Espi Kvlt

Four years ago, Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze broke out onto the black metal scene with their phenomenal debut Offerings of Flesh and Gold, an album I adored so much I bought it on all physical formats (tape, CD, and vinyl). It was my album of the year in 2019, as well as one of my first real introductions to RABM. While many RABM bands struggle to let their music speak for itself, Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze did not have that problem, standing musically on its own with the added bonus of being about something that mattered to me. I would, in fact, be unsurprised to learn that people on the right wing of the political spectrum bought the album unknowingly, much as I have seen is the case with Uprising, another RABM band whose messaging does not drown out how beautiful the art is on its own. These were large shoes to fill for this band, my expectations already exceedingly high, and I am ecstatic to say that they’ve once again delivered something incredible, and this time, spiritual.

While Offerings of Flesh and Gold got into my veins and made me feel waves of various emotions from hope to anguish, The Fractal Ouroboros has taken this to the next level, wherein I felt as though I had been welcomed in to watch a ritual occur. Though I did not know where the ritual was heading, as I was being brought in as an outside observer, I felt wholly part of it, fully invited into this holy space, and as the music washed over me, there were many times that my very being felt it was transcending into another plane.

The Fractal Ouroboros leads us into this ethereal space with the opening track “Trophy”, which invokes the image of carrying a large, bronze bull into whatever imaginative space the listener is currently in (I was in a cave). The track starts near-silent and develops with drums that pick up until the full black metal assault arrives at full force, a deft blend of vocals and instrumentation that all lay perfectly together in the mix. The vocals were already an adored part of their first album for me, and they are only better here, reaching the alien levels of spooky shrieks I am always searching for in black metal. There is a long period of reprieve in the middle of the song that harkens back to the ritualistic drumming of the beginning, and the signal to its arrival is a fading guitar and a vocal choice I can only describe as a death rattle (which is a compliment). While this section bears a strong resemblance to the track’s opening, there is a chanting that sounds over layered guitars here that, instead of serving as a guide into the album’s entrance, feels more like the kinds of chants we do at my Buddhist temple, adding to the religious atmosphere of the album. This blends perfectly into the next track, “A History of Cages and Broken Bones”, which has a strong emphasis on chanting throughout with a period in the middle where the spoken word becomes demonic shrieks before going back to chanting. While the song has a very sad, DSBM-y atmosphere, it is followed by “Suffocate O Earthen Lungs; They Now Lungs of Ash”, which speeds things up to fast, headbanging riffs and blast beats for the majority of the song, allowing the listener some time to ground themselves with classic black metal sounds before it fades ominously for the last several minutes into slow picking that signals something very different is about to come.

At the album’s halfway point, we are greeted by the most experimental songs on the album, starting with “Annihilation”. The sadness that seemed to peek around the corner in “History” is fully present throughout this melancholy track. For the first several minutes, there is nothing but an atmospheric layer that sounds like white noise, until the gentle picking from the previous number returns over a whispered spoken word which is mournful, funereal. It’s a beautiful melancholy that is soon accompanied by drums, and then, towards the end, explodes in a cacophony of harrowing screams and loud instrumentation before fading out with more of the sorrowful guitar picking. This takes us into “Liberation Ritual”, which continues with the atmosphere in the strongest way yet, a fire crackling, drums pounding in time, and the spoken word now simply said – no whispers, no screams, but more like a pastor standing before their congregation, as the congregation itself sounds off in the background. It reminded me a lot of folk bands like Heilung, except far more enjoyable as I know exactly where this band stands on political issues, making this feel less like a ritual I was scared to join for fear the people involved would call me a slur and more like it was exactly for people like me.

This album ends strongly on its final two tracks, “Our Overt Apocalypse” and “Ekstasis, Enstasis, and The Fractal Ouroboros”, where Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze perfectly stick the landing. The two songs build off the foundation of the previous songs, perfectly blending and weaving between the rhythmic drumming, the chanting, the blast beats, and the harsh vocals. They are the perfect culmination of each song that came before, expounding upon the musical themes to create a masterpiece of expression. And as the album fades out, the last thing we hear is the crackling of the fire. The ritual has ended, but the message lives on.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze have somehow managed to take a perfect debut album and use it as a building block to create something even better with their sophomore project. I had begun to wonder if they were a band who would drop one perfect album and disappear never to be heard from again, and I am beyond grateful that was not the case, as they continue to cultivate an S-tier discography that I can only hope will continue forward from here.