★★★★★
I walked into a sold-out, crowded Middle East venue right in the middle of Inter Arma's set. The Richmond, VA, five-piece were right in the thick of opening things up for this (very) "alt"-metal extravaganza-emphasis on "thick." The band played drawn-out, stonery/sludgy metal with some black metal flourishes. Anytime it'd be singer Mike Paparo's turn to cackle or howl, he'd glare across the audience, whites of his eyes illuminating the room. Classic sight...
- www.punknews.org
2014-02-25
★★★★★
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Inside AP.net
Russian Circles - MemorialRussian Circles - MemorialRelease Date: October 29, 2013
Record Label: Sargent House
There are a lot of bands out there that constantly walk the line of consistency and redundancy. At what point does a band start sounding too much like themselves? Is a band sounding too much like themselves even a bad thing if their sound is captivating...
- www.absolutepunk.net
2013-12-10
★★★★★
There are a lot of bands out there that constantly walk the line of consistency and redundancy. At what point does a band start sounding too much like themselves? Is a band sounding too much like themselves even a bad thing if their sound is captivating? These are questions that listeners have to deal with and that bands have to struggle to break free from. This goes double for instrumental bands...
- absolutepunk.net
2013-12-06
★★★★★
It's impressive what Russian Circles can do with a basic guitar, bass, and drum setup. There are plenty of metal-leaning instrumental bands who dial up big climaxes, but you'd be hard-pressed to find one that creates such an array of textures and emotions with so little. Bassist Brian Cook also uses keyboards, and on the Chicago trio's excellent fifth album, Memorial, they bring in guest cello and violin...
- pitchfork.com
2013-11-21
★★★★★
Tweet Long-Term Memories On Memorial, post-metal instrumental trio Russian Circles stretch their renowned contrast of delicate, atmospheric sounds and gigantic, overdriven riffs to extremes. To listen to this album is to experience a peaceful walk through a quiet cemetery after dark that is interrupted by a ground-splitting earthquake. There are moments of beauty and calm, where minor chords float around on flickering clean guitars over soothing synth pads...
- www.mxdwn.com
2013-11-03
★★★★★
This Chicago-based band's fifth album might be their strongest set to date, featuring a dynamic, shape-shifting blend of post-rock and metal with majestic, tension-filled songs ranging from stormy rockers to dreamy, melancholic ballads. 11/1/2013
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- kexp.org
2013-11-02
★★★★★
Russian Circles are a Chicago based trio that make some of the finest instrumental rock tunes this side of the eastern hemisphere. Their sound is best described as a post-rock noise blend that takes finely tuned ambient sound and scatters it across bars of syrupy-sweet rock riffs. They've also been gaining praise for quite some time now, slowly climbing up the ladder...
- www.musicreview.co.za
2013-10-31
★★★★★
Russian Circles' music never runs so much as tiptoes. Like a skilled trapeze artist, they've delicately walked the line between prog-metal and post-rock since 2004's debut full-length, Enter, an album that literally invited you into the convoluted psyche of a band that went from soaring, noodly guitar one minute to crushing, deafening breakdown the next ? all within the same song...
- www.punknews.org
2013-10-31
★★★★★
October is the month when the two leading instrumental post-rock groups right now, Russian Circles and Pelican, will go head-to-head with their album releases. Pelican's newbie, Forever Becoming, dropped on the 15th and this Russian Circles album will go global two weeks later. With both Chicago bands mining the same rough musical seam, you'd think the two might have clashed sooner, but it has never been an issue previously because of their distinct stylings...
- www.thelineofbestfit.com
2014-01-05