Russian Circles new LP
“Guidance” might not be their most ambitious but it’s definitely one of their most balanced and ultimately crushing works to date and an excellent exercise
on post-rock and instrumental rock in general.
It’s pretty hard not to love the new
Russian Circles LP “Guidance” if you’re a fan of post-rock or good rock music in general. It’s clear that this album is their less experimental
and probably less ambitious album so far and it’s precisely for that very same
reason that, at this point in their career, crafting a straight-up,
hard-hitting rock record was ironically the most ambitious thing the Chicago
trio could’ve done, if that makes sense. For a band more used to working on
textures and nuances it might be easy to think choosing a more "plain" approach represents some kind of sonic detour
at least to some extent, from previous records but as it turns out, Guidance’s biggest accomplishment
is that it proves that, when things are done right, sometimes less is more and
man, things are done quite right here.
The album starts off in a quiet and very introspective
way with the harp driven song “Asa”, which essentially brings to mind some sort
of folky take on an old Explosion in the Sky track and while by no means is it a
bad song, it doesn’t surprise either and it doesn’t really feel like it sticks
out in any particular way beyond setting a calm before the storm mood for
what’s to come and in that way it works fine. What comes next is a two-track
set of some of the most pummeling and heaviest stuff the band has put out with
the amazing, epic “Vorel” and the Impressive “Mota” both of which are teeming
with fantastic, incendiary guitar riffs and some boisterous, larger than life
drums and when all altogether comes into play you can’t but make question
whether you’re truly listening to a three-piece set because it seems pretty incredible
to say the least that such a noisy, powerful sonic assault can come from only
three people but somehow, believe it or not it is true.
The track “Afrika” felt quite frankly out of
place for me both in the musical context of the album and also in terms of its
placement on the track list. Perhaps on another Russian Circles record it
would’ve worked out better but here, it doesn’t really add much to the overall
listening experience. The song “Overboard”, though, is along with the closing
track, the most “classic” or typical, if you will, Russian Circles track here;
only that it certainly feels more organic, not necessarily less ambitious but
definitely more straight forward instrumentation-wise but the results are quite
fantastic. It’s one of the album’s most reflective and also atmospheric moments
and it perfectly sets the mood for the song “Calla”.
“Calla” is basically an over six minutes long display of blaring guitars and thunderous drums performed with tight precision
and a straight out of the heavy metal book rowdy appeal that makes for the most
punishing track on “Guidance” and also one of the heaviest songs the band has
put out; some pretty badass and jaw-dropping stuff. The closing track “Lisboa”
is the most nuanced song on the album and also the most reminiscent of the
band’s previous works and the most “by the book” post-rock here but in this
case not for being a bit conventional it is less effective, on the contrary,
it’s clean and meditative but it’s lush and epic as well.
“Guidance” is full of great moments; it's as atmospheric and cinematic as any good post-rock record should be and it's also worth noting the album contains some of the rowdiest and most crushing tracks in the band’s catalog, which combined with some more traditional but exceptionally put together and
performed passages, results in an amalgamation of talent and
song-crafting that exhibits Russian Circles’ versatility and visceral power and
it’s probably the coolest post-rock album of the year so far. When you have both the
badassery and the melodic sensibility showcased throughout almost the entire
record's running time, you don’t really have to reinvent the wheel on every new record you put
out; you just have to be confident about what you’re doing and what’s more
important, rock and that’s exactly what Russian Circles do here and quite
often, rock.
You can listen to whole record in the link down
below!
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