Russian Circles “are back to hypnotize headbangers” (Revolver). This Friday, they will release their new album, Nine, through Sargent House and today, the band present another taste with “Seventh Seal.” Following the hypnotic “Eluvial” and “Empath,” “Seventh Seal” is the album’s dark closer. Taking inspiration from Cliff Burton-era Metallica’s penchant for pairing melancholic classical guitar passages with the blunt force trauma of their heaviest tracks, on “Seventh Seal,” the stark beauty of guitarist Mike Sullivan’s nylon string solo composition ushers in the band’s most unapologetically straightforward metallic assault.
Reinvention is unnecessary when the path forward has always been an open horizon. When it comes to Russian Circles, you can go back through their catalog and find a vast array of broad-ranging influences, which is the formidable Touch & Go artists of the Midwest, the prog giants of late ‘60s and early ‘70s England, the hypnotic motorik and kosmische grooves of West Germany, and the international underground’s most caustic strains of metal. Yet, it’s fair to say the band’s adventurous diversity has evolved into its own distinct sound. Whereas earlier albums were almost playful in their traversing of territories, Nine is a document of a band that knows the lay of the land and is fortifying their dominion over the varied terrain.
Leave a Comment