Russian Circles – Geneva

A squall of strings, a pounding of drums, and a thoroughly doom laden riff. Ah such sweet pleasures and only seconds have passed since pressing play on the latest offering from Russian Circles. Rumbling toms and urgent bass lines take it from here as ‘Fathom’ opens up, exposing itself as a post-metal hybrid possessing the sharpest of teeth, the deepest of depressions and the strongest of arms. To suggest that the opening track is a confusing beast would be to do it a disservice. Gentle those string parts may be, but as they go forth spreading happiness and cheer they are followed closely by a rippling beast intent on stomping on toys, ripping up flowers and just possibly defecating on a few doorsteps. Clocking in at under five minutes, it’s a brief introduction (in Russian Circles terms at least) but when there’s a horde of ideas stomping across the perfectly realised instrumental landscape any longer would cause severe bewilderment.

This, then, is Russian Circles third offering. Their first foray into post-rock/post metal, Enter, tickled a fair few fancies being as it was, an unrelenting slab of all things post. They let a fair few down with Station, preferring a more straight-up post-rock take on things and perhaps ignoring the beast within a little too much.

Geneva goes some way to setting things straight by taking the best elements from their first two releases, and happily cramming them together to come up with something that sounds a great deal more complete.

The title track is a more straight forward rocker, similar in tone to fellow Chicagoans Pelican’s tempestuous post-metal. A rolling thrash riff propels it towards a crashing climax where upon the band allow things to ebb away. Drums and bass trade insults kick lumps out of each other, and slowly another simmering building process begins. Russian Circles don’t use the quiet-loud-quiet format like other bands; instead they adopt something more akin to build-destroy-build-annihilate. There are subtleties of course, but where you’d expect to find a soothing melody, more often than not there is something more visceral boiling away ready to explode.

That said, there are moments of tranquillity to be found on Geneva. ‘Melee’ is a lot more considered and brooding than the title might suggest. With the addition of cello and violin from Alison Chelsey and Susan Voelz there are moments of an orchestral beauty that fill out the emotional range of the band perfectly. Naturally it careers head long into more aggressive territory, but the sonic palette available to the band has widened, and with it, they have become more effective at provoking a range of responses in the listener.

‘Hexed All’ slows the pace considerably. A guitar line that somehow seems autumnal in the way it drops from Mike Sullivan’s fingers provides a base for the strings to work their magic once again. This is Russian Circles at their most contemplative, and as close as they get to sounding like contempories such as Mono on this album.

‘Maiko’ returns us to a world full of sweet guitar licks and wonderfully crafted drum patterns. At times it takes in the elements of garage rock, and the exuberance of the hair metal bands of the 80s, but always remembers that riffs are meant for pounding. Which ‘Maiko’ does constantly…relentlessly.

When ‘The Mountains Came to Muhammed’ takes us into epic territory once again. Utilising radio broadcasts buried deep in the mix they conjure up comparisons to Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor but keep things very much in the Russian Circles mould.

They close with the truly stunning ‘Philos’, which appeared on a split with These Arms Are Snakes some time ago. This is a reworked expanded version however, and with the addition of strings and piano, is a much more rounded proposition. Far and away the most beautiful and stirring thing on the album, this monumental epic suggests that Russian Circles have now found the perfect balance between bombast and meditation.

Geneva is the sound of a band finding their feet once again and proving the doubters wrong. If they continue to build from here, rather than destroy in their usual manner, then whatever Russian Circles end up doing next is going to be phenomenal.

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