Review: “Ouroboros” by Apocryphal

“The natural shape of human progress, the infinite cycle of life we must go through to be reborn. An eternal loop, the cycle of Samara – which both humbles and empowers us through the entire spectrum of human experience defined by four colours – Blue, Red, Grey, and Black (these are four songs making our EP). We consume ourselves to grow. Look how far you have come. And again, a new cycle begins.” ~ Apocryphal

Describing themselves simply as a Dream Metalcore band from Mumbai India, Apocryphal have spent the past six years crafting their sound with the waterfall release of five singles prior to debut EP “Ouroboros“. Formed in 2020 they comprise producer and guitarist Karan Sanchala, drummer Tanish Ganatra, bassist Mitish Amin alongside vocalist pairing Riddhi Vyas  and Kiran Desai. Collectively they consider “Spiders” their biggest single and have used it to decimate crowds while partaking in Wacken Metal Battle for India.

The record begins with the ambient textures of “Blue“, synths and clean guitars transcending into highly polished Progressive Metalcore sounds with harsh unclean vocals in the first verse. Majestic soaring cleans follow those and a comparison with the more recent works of Butcher Babies springs to mind as the breakdown of the mid section hits hard. The contrast in the vocals makes for a real point of difference during this opening sonic assault on the senses, the cleans are just so beautiful that they wash away the pain of the harsh ones. It has to be said the production is slick and if you saw these guys opening for someone like Bad Omens or Erra for example it wouldn’t surprise.

Glitch laden programming and break beats add a different texture to “Red” which hits harder than its predecessor with a Nu-Metal like introspection in the lyrical narrative. The heavier guitars and greater intensity fuel the fire and capture the imagination and the clean vocals are once again sublime, the tribal drum patterns in the mid section a distinctive throwback to bands like Ill Nino. What works well is that the harsh unclean vocals give the otherwise heavily polished sound a raw quality that it simply doesn’t have from any other element and without them they would be a very different proposition.

“Grey” puts bounce in the mosh pit with its powerful main riff a driving force, the rhythm section working overtime to provide the energy for the vocalist pairing to feed off. Those stunning clean vocals have more of an emotive quality on this one, something which helps push things forward with an added sense of purpose. Staccato riff breaks illuminate “Black“, the bands electrifying energy threatening to overpower the mournful atmospheric quality of the lyrical narrative on a couple of occasions but fortunately that doesn’t come to fruition. A powerful record which shows a lot of promise, the only issue here is that there is a little too much polish [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Blue
2. Red
3. Grey (ft. Archverse)
4. Black

“Ouroboros” by Apocryphal is out 17th April 2026 and is available over at bandcamp.