Album Reviews

Enter | Russian Circles

By Dan ⋅ May 18, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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First thing’s first, Russian Circles is purely an instrumental band.  If you’ve yet to release that comfort of needing vocals, then you might have a hard time appreciating them to the extent that I do.  You’d also be severely missing out on a large number amazing bands, including Russian Circles.

I only recently came across this trio from Chicago.  They were actually the first of the series of new bands introduced to me via Pandora.  You know, the only problem with Pandora is that you can quickly become overwhelmed with so many new bands.  Luckily, I found these guys before I had to take a break.  Over the past year I’ve gotten hooked on bands following the math and sludge rock.  Russian Circles, although hailing from the Chicago math rock scene, doesn’t really fall into either genre exclusively.  I’m sure I’ll get some criticism out of this, but I think they’ve found a really solid mix of the two genres.  I hear a mixture of Isis , God is an Astronaut, and Pelican… with just the right amount of math rock.  If you’re unfamiliar with all three of those bands, then you’ve obviously never had a serious conversation with me about music.

Enter (2006) is only six tracks, but is about 45 minutes long.  Albeit technically an EP, it is one of the most cohesive albums I’ve heard in a long time.  I never find myself wanting to skip to the next track, and every track seamlessly flows into the next.  I know this is certainly no new concept in the realm of making an album, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve heard anyone pull it off so well.  Each track is individually diverse, dynamic, and never makes you think you heard it earlier in the album.  Furthermore, Enter pulls off mood changes very smoothly, unlike bands like Opeth which tend to jerk you around from raw metal to classical in a fraction of a second.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing in either respect, just an observation.

For the most part, Enter is relatively mellow, similar to early Pelican, or maybe God is an Astronaut without the synthesizer.  Russian Circles does an incredible job of pulling off a solid instrumental band with only three guys and predominantly only guitar, bass, and drums.  Of the three, I think the drummer sticks the most.  He knows when to be subtle and when to really drive the music.  Aside from knowing his role very well, he keeps pretty busy without being flashy…  I like that. The really heavy parts are few and far between in my between, but I think that’s what makes them all the more moving.

I selected clips from Enter, Micah and Carpe. I should probably also mention that Russian Circles just released a new album entitled Station (2008).  I believe it came out two weeks ago from this coming Tuesday.  If you enjoy Enter remotely as much as me, I know you won’t be disappointed with the new album.

Tags: instrumental, math-rock, metal, rock