Russian Circles - Blood Year

By Justin C. When I reviewed Russian Circles’s last album, Guidance, I noted that there seems to be a certain obsession with the band’s heaviness, with each new album cycle prompting folks to declare that the instrumental trio is at their “heaviest yet.”

By Justin C.


When I reviewed Russian Circles’s last album, Guidance, I noted that there seems to be a certain obsession with the band’s heaviness, with each new album cycle prompting folks to declare that the instrumental trio is at their “heaviest yet.” The fact that I see statements like this referring to every album makes me think a lot of people are missing the point. In fact, here’s my HOT TAKE: By most measures, I’d say the heaviness quotient* of any given Russian Circles album, including their newest, Blood Year, is pretty close to their baseline level of heaviness.

How closely Russian Circles adheres to metal adjacency might be a way to help clarify their genre, but in reality, the band’s a bit more subtle than that. The basic elements of their style are rock and metal based, and for sure, there are always some truly crunchy moments on their albums. On Blood Year, “Milano” ebbs and flows with some doomy/sludgy flavor, and album closer “Quartered” is pretty much fire from beginning to end. But that said, you need to listen a little more deeply to understand their magic.

I said that Guidance had some of their most delicate work, and going back further, Memorial saw the band pushing their limits even further, going so far as to include guest vocals from Chelsea Wolfe. Compared to those two albums, Blood Year is one of their leaner, more muscular albums. To my ear, they’re working more with their basic elements than on other recent records. It’s heavy in its own way, but it doesn’t lack the nuance that they always bring to their work. “Kohokia,” for example, plays with subtle shifts between light and dark, leaving you unsure as to whether you’re being uplifted or weighed down. And “Ghost on High” is another short gem that the band seems so good at--a fleeting interlude with an almost Baroque feel.

Is Blood Year a game changer for the band? Not really, but on the other hand, it doesn’t need to be. Thirteen years after their first album, Russian Circles remain as beguiling as ever, and they remain the standard bearer for how to do instrumental rock/metal.

*Most of our sophisticated readers of course know that the heaviness quotient is calculated thusly:

Russian Circles - Guidance

By Justin C. Russian Circles is now 10 years into their career, with six full lengths. An instrumental trio with just guitar, bass, drums, and the very occasional guest vocal appearance. So how do they manage to keep their sound so distinctly

By Justin C.


Russian Circles is now 10 years into their career, with six full lengths. An instrumental trio with just guitar, bass, drums, and the very occasional guest vocal appearance. So how do they manage to keep their sound so distinctly their own without making the same album over and over again? Is it just pure musical goodness? Yes, I'm going to go with that.

Guidance is an interesting choice for an album title, given that the cover art is a photo of a man being led to his own execution. Bassist Brian Cook's husband was given an envelope with a series of photos, with no explanation other than the enigmatic line, "I thought you should have these." We don't know if the man is a good guy or a bad guy, a political prisoner or a murderer, but it's hard not to hear a sense of defiance in this record after seeing that image of a man with his head held high, walking to his death.

I did a little more reading about this album than I usually do, but I found it interesting that Pitchfork's take was of a "more bad-ass Russian Circles" on this album, when my initial reaction was that it had some of their most delicate work to date on it. But in reality, it has both. The band has always been masters of dynamics. They don't pound you over the head with exhausting LOUDsoftLOUDsoft grinds like some bands in this genre do (*cough* Explosions in the Sky *cough*). Their swells and fades are well earned and well composed.

Photos by Caroline Harrison.

The first four tracks of Guidance merit special attention. They appear to be parts of one musical whole--there's no break between songs until the fifth track--so one's left to wonder if they're telling a story about the man on the cover, or something else entirely. All I know is that those tracks take me somewhere, and it's a place I want to stay. "Asa" is the delicate opener, with a faint tremolo riding over a simple but very effective plucked figure. At times, it put me in mind of Zeppelin's solo guitar works like "Black Mountain Side" or "Bron-Yr-Aur." Before you know it, though, the drums roll in like a thunderstorm and a sweeping riff comes in with "Vorel." "Mota" brings that defiant feeling again, with a very tasty staccato riff and a great moment when the bass steps out, loud and buzzing. "Afrika" rounds out this four-movement tour with cascades of sound and piercing melodies, giving you all the feels you need.

The rest of the tracks deserve this kind of attention, too, whether it's the abrasive dissonance in "Calla" or the doomy intro to "Lisboa," but song-by-song reviews can get tedious. So the bottom line: even if you think you're not a fan of instrumental music, or you have "all you need" with some of their contemporaries, just go buy this. Then listen. Then repeat with all their other albums.

Russian Circles - Memorial

Written by Justin C.

Photography by Ryan Russell

Instrumental music has never really gotten a foothold in pop music, outside of the occasional one-hit wonder. There are probably a lot of reasons for that. I remember a long-ago interview with jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, during which he mentioned that people often told him they didn't like instrumental jazz because without the vocals/lyrics, they didn't know what the song was about. And if we're honest, pop music isn't a genre that values high levels of musicianship--if you strip the vocals away from most pop music, you're not left with a whole lot to get excited about.

Photo by Pedro Roque.

But metal is a genre that doesn't care too much about mass appeal, and the musicians it attracts often have some serious chops both on their instruments and their songwriting abilities. Enter Russian Circles and their fifth full-length, Memorial. I've long been a fan, and although Memorial might not be their heaviest work so far, it may be their best. "Memoriam" opens the album with a delicate, finger-picked guitar figure, but it's just a brief prelude before "Deficit" kicks in with soaring guitar leads and a thrashy main riff, along with probably dozens of other layers that make these songs such an immersive listen. They may be a trio, but they throw out a heck of a lot of sound. "1777," the longest track on the album, is the soundtrack for an epic flight over a mountain range, and it also shows off one of the band's many strengths: Dave Turncrantz's fantastic drumming. The production of the drums is noteworthy in itself because of the crystal-clear, natural drum kit sound. But even if you don't geek out on production, the playing itself is a revelation. The song features a drum solo that mixes percussion and melody in a way that only the best drummers can manage.

Photo by Pedro Roque.

It's tough to pick out a favorite track. "Burial" is probably the most aggressive song on the album, with plenty of menace and some black metal-style guitars, but immediately following that, "Ethel" is an almost-rapturous release, featuring right-hand guitar tapping throughout its length that, unlike most tapping wank-fests, doesn't make you want to punch someone in the face. The album closer and title track has another great twist in store: vocals from the band's touring mate and reigning goth/folk queen Chelsea Wolfe. Their last album, Empros, also ended with a track with vocals, but Wolfe's incomparable vocals about loss and ghosts, drenched in reverb, add a perfect end cap to this amazing album.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Russian Circles - Empros

Empros, the brand new Russian Circles album was released today on their Bandcamp. Much of the usual Russian Circles post-rock ambiance has been replaced with a fuller bass heavy production and songs that flows instead of wander. Here are two reviews from Sputnikmusic and The Obelisk.

Empros is released on Sargent House, who runs the Russian Circles Bandcamp page. They're mainly an indie/post-rock label but they do have some interesting metallic stuff like Boris and the Red Fang debut album.