Post-rock and black metal have never sounded this good together. Russian Circles manipulates the sweeping beauty of instrumental rock music and meshes it together with the "slit-your wrist" depressed style of doom metal. It is always fascinating to have two extremes paired together. Reflective sensitivity and ear shattering nihilism intuitively have no place together, but Russian Circles makes it work. They can linger in the beauty of quite atmospheric tones, but rupture the silence with sonic waves of clashing cymbals and heavily distorted / detuned bass.
There really isn't much apparent melody in the performances of Russian Circles and their live presentation at best is stoic. However this does not mean they are boring to see live. If the incredible loudness of the performance doesn't shake you into absolute mesmerization than the technical connectivity of the band will. They weave pieces of noise into interesting textures and create auricular palates consisting of sounds that offset each other in interesting ways. The drums provide a barbaric and simply calculated beat, at other times they are unpredictable and complex. The guitar is used primarily for textural construction introducing sharp hisses of noise, reverberated echoes and soft soundscapes. The bass adds a huge punch to the music really accenting the drum beat and keeping the overall structure of the song on track.
For a three piece band Russian Circles offers a wide array of sounds. Going to one of their concerts you could be basking in the ambience and beauty of such tracks as "Memorial" or feel like you are battling against the baltic winds on a viking ship with brooding pieces such as "309".
Em Beihold
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