Album of the day: Russian Circles – Empros

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: For their fourth album, Empros (first directly for Sargent House), the instrumental three-piece Russian Circles returned to producer Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines, who also helmed 2009’s Geneva.

The reasons why are fairly obvious: What the Chicago outfit was able to accomplish with Geneva was their most formidable blend yet of ambience and post-metallic heft, and for the sheer sounds Curtis was able to capture from guitarist Mike Sullivan, bassist Brian Cook (also ex-Botch / These Arms are Snakes) and drummer Dave Turncrantz, their wanting to recreate at least that element of the Geneva experience is well justified.

That said, Empros and Geneva are different enough albums that, even without vocals as the latest is – except for the psychedelic lullaby closer ‘Praise be Man’ – it becomes clear Russian Circles approached the construction of these songs with something altogether heavier in mind. It’s not so much that their tones have changed, though right from opener ’309′, there’s a lot riding on the sometimes Godfleshy and mechanized feel of Cook’s bass, but the way the material is put together. Where some of Geneva’s ambience was allowed to wander, the six tracks of Empros are less so, so that even when the heaviness breaks into a stretch of indie-infused airy atmospherics, loops and long-ringing tones, there’s a pointedness and direction to them.

Likewise, when Russian Circles do launch into one of the crunching parts through which they’ve helped innovate post-metal instrumentalism, they sound heavier than they ever have. Four albums in, they also know how to make that work to their advantage.

Continue reading: The Obelisk » Blog Archive » Russian Circles, Empros: ORD to AMS
Courtesy of JJ Koczan / The Obelisk

Tags: Album of the day, Brandon Curtis, Brian Cook, Dave Turncrantz, Empros, Mike Sullivan, post rock, Russian Circles, Sargent House, The Obelisk

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 at 5:08 pm and is filed under 2011, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.