Search The Line of Best Fit
Search The Line of Best Fit

Genre-defying Finnish Gonzo-Krautpsychhardrockers Circle now sound as colossal on record as on stage

"Terminal"

Release date: 23 June 2017
8/10
Circle terminal
21 June 2017, 17:59 Written by Janne Oinonen
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In the run-up to the release of Terminal, Jussi Lehtisalo - bassist and sole remnant from the line-up that released recently reissued debut Meronia in 1991 - described what we could expect. “It’s approachable, solid Circle. The riffs are churning and there’s a bloke screaming.”

This typically deadpan comment (the English translation doesn't do justice to the eloquent turn of phrase in the original Finnish) was obviously delivered tongue in cheek. As seasoned Circle fans know, the band's inability to take themselves all that seriously is the one constant feature for this celebrated cult band - from the small city of Pori on the western coast of Finland - that keeps evolving and defying expectations with a tireless zeal that few artists, never mind ones who've been around for a quarter of a century, can equal.

To demonstrate their unfathomable ways, a few years ago they 'leased' the name Circle to an extreme Metal band whilst issuing an AOR-inspired record (not one of the more essential releases in the band's catalogue which by now extends to a gazillion - well, 52 - releases) under the assumed name Falcon. The six-piece sport spandex and other vintage hard rock paraphernalia on stage whilst mightily wailing vocalist/keyboardist Mika Rättö (also familiar from psych-folk-rockers Kuusumun Profeetta) indulges his enthusiasm for the most ludicrous foot-on-monitor cock-rock poses imaginable. Much-acclaimed live sets push theatrics to an exhilaratingly baffling level where the performance might culminate in a mid-song intra-band arm wrestling match where the loser wounds up decapitated with a bass guitar.

This taste for the surreal and the eccentric might cause some to conclude that we're dealing with a bunch of jesters who aren't worth taking seriously, as if musical ambition was a phenomenon that only existed amongst bands who spend their entire on-stage existence studiously staring at their instruments. In some ways a follow-up to the relatively straightforward rock anthems of 2010’s excellent Rautatie but more consistently on target, Terminal provides the most compelling evidence yet to the contrary by matching the sweaty intensity and unstoppable forward-momentum of Circle's inimitable live shows. The material is extremely potent, too: anyone bowled over by the extended, hypnotic riff-fests that have featured in Circle's recent shows will be thrilled to note they're included here in epic, heroically overdriven versions that exceed their live counterparts.

In some ways, Lehtisalo's pre-release comments to a Finnish music publication were spot on. Above all else, Terminal is an exhilarating exercise in total riff worship. And what riffs they are. The relentless triple-guitar attack of, say, the title track - which plugs in the motorik repetition of Neu! to a wall of Marshall amps and turns it up to 11 - brings to mind a gigantic tank sputtering to life and heading off on a rampage to level all in its path, an irresistibly hypnotic experience in pummelling, brute yet dynamic and nuanced force that's an invitation to head-bang yourself into a whiplash and grin like a fool whilst doing so.

Yet there's subtlety here, too. There’s room amongst the molten lava of 12-minute opener “Rakkautta Al Dente” for a superbly atmospheric middle section of abstract yet lyrical, even pretty noodling that nods towards Circle's side-line as improvisatory explorers of the murky hinterlands of (un)popular music, most recently essayed on 2015's foreboding Pharaoh Overlord, confusingly named after endlessly prolific Lehtisalo's other major band. The cascading, seemingly random guitar notes towards the end of "Saxo" – which resemble a flurry of meteors descending towards Earth, fleetingly beautiful before their destructive power is unleashed against the track’s muscular thrust - showcase the band's keen understanding of how the squeeze the maximum impact from the smallest of variants. Saving the best until last, “Sick Child” transforms a downcast, near-solo acoustic track from guitarist (and leader of the criminally underappreciated Plain Ride) Janne Westerlund’s recent solo album There’s a Passage into a spectacular slice of apocalyptic psych-rock that’s virtually pulsating with evil intent. And which, keeping with rest of this magnificent album, arrives equip with a riff that could topple mountains.

A Swedish journalist recently declared Circle the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world after witnessing a particularly intense performance. Listening to Terminal, it's difficult to find any reasonable grounds to disagree.

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