Russian Circles - Blood Year

Russian Circles are not a complicated band to understand. Their approach to post-metal has always been a pretty holistic one, and as the band have honed their sound, their natural flow and chemistry has only become more infectious through their music. The band started with some proggy, math-rock-ish tendencies, and a little heavier of a leaning toward ambient post-rock, but since Empros (and on a few songs from the albums preceding it), the band have focused their energy on establishing these infectious grooves and guiding them through their most natural path through the post-metal fields, rather than jerking them by the leash through disjointed attempts at instrumental prog. And it has made them all the more exciting to listen to.

The band showed their ability to inject versatility into their naturalistic, groove-focused approach on my favorite album in their catalog, 2013′s Memorial, and while their following album in 2016, Guidance, wasn’t as full of twists and turns as Memorial, it was yet another solid display of their progression as a band with the brand of post-metal they’ve crafted. Like clockwork, Russian Circles are back with the follow-up to Guidance, Blood Year, which largely acts as a sequel to Guidance, following its trajectory and coming through with a set of songs even more consistently immersive and groovy.

Anyone who knows Russian Circles knows that they aren’t trying to be the heaviest or most boundary-pushing band in post-metal, and most bands making post-metal aren’t trying to out-heavy each other either, but Russian Cirlces still manage to induce some pretty resonant, meditative head-banging, which I can confirm translates phenomenally through their live performances. I liken their appeal (to me) to the appeal that Meshuggah has to me and a lot of their fans. The pull into the music to become one with its grooves and in tune with its smooth journey from motif to motif that Russian Circles have always drawn from and invoke rather convincingly here is not too dissimilar to that deeply meditative, yet vitally alert and violent state of listening that Meshuggah are able to induce at such a primal level. And while I love the way that Meshuggah’s music can be approached just as destructively as is can be contemplatively simultaneously, the absence of djenty punch from Russian Circles doesn’t negate the effectiveness of their music to resonate so powerfully deeply through sheer, sensible groove in such a similar way.

Again, Blood Year is a continuation of Russian Circles’ exhibition of their knack for groove/riff-focused post-metal elaboration, with a decent bit of aesthetic variety from track to track, from the distinctly black-metal-influenced “Milano” to the crunchy riffage of “Quartered”, to the more patient, building approach of “Kohokia”. As always, Brian Cook’s thunderous bass guitar lines provide such potently infectious rhythm and a superb foundation for Mike Sullivan to embellish upon with his reverb-heavy, yet still muscular guitar atmospherics and leads and for drummer Dave Turncrantz to steer and accent thoughtfully and naturally. Aside from the ambient post-rock intro track and the clean guitar interlude of “Ghost on High”, there aren’t really any songs where Russian Circles aren’t simply channeling their natural chemistry into riding tasty bass lines and guitar riffs through their natural courses of groove.

For those somehow not already convinced by albums like Memorial or Empros, Blood Year probably won’t be the any more persuading, but for those for who Russian Circles’ post-metal groove clicks, it is another fabulous addition to the catalog of one of post-metal’s most consistently stellar acts, and one of the band’s most consistently enthralling, which offers the splendid premonition that there is plenty of gas in the tank for Russian Circles and a lot to look forward to from this creatively tight band.

Always coming back to breathing/10