![]() First, rather than collectively constructing songs in a rehearsal room, the members wrote full pieces in the isolation of new home studios. ![]() Two logistical hurdles of the pandemic served as surprising boons for Russian Circles. These nimble and mighty songs close that gap, at least for 40 minutes. As dauntless as it is electrifying, Gnosis is also efficient and lean, qualities that together recharge a familiar sound that’s not been in vogue for a long time. Russian Circles debuted nearly 20 years ago, after bands like Explosions in the Sky, Mono, Pelican, or even Isis filled in the blank that followed “post- ” with foundational records. Gnosis is a perpetual motion machine, its serrated guitars and blown-out bass forever pirouetting around or slamming into drums that make this music dramatic and restless. But Russian Circles’ eighth album works so well because that flipped-switch dynamic is the sole exception to what seems a new rule for the Chicago trio: The beautiful and the brutal should exist in tandem, not split into stereotypical patterns.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |