365 Days of Metal: Going In Circles

Okay, so I kind of lied when I said 365 Days of Metal would be back last week after my long Graduation / Halloween weekend. But I wasn't fibbing when I said I truly do enjoy giving the few people who read this crap, something to check out every other day, at the least.

So hopefully the little hiatus, caused by being extremely busy and simultaneously lazy, will be the last one for a little while. Time to get this Metal Monstrosity back chugg-a-lug-lugging along.

Day 69 

Russian Circles - Empros

Band Origin: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Genre: Post Metal / Instrumental

Label: Sargent House

Running Time: 41 minutes

Release Date: October 25, 2011

Best Part: The intro track 309 really sets the tone for the record, echoing back to the core of their last record and pushing the focus on their instrumental movements to the next stage

Favorite Tracks: 309, Mlàdek, Schipol, Atackla, Batu, and Praise Be Man - (Yeah, that's the whole record)

Grade: 5

Side Note: I'm starting to feel like Post-metal is quickly becoming my favorite metal sub-genre.

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Empros in 20ish words or less:

The fourth full-length release of this instrumental trio forgoes a small portion of its slow building heaviness, for a more direct and equally as looming performance.

The Band:

Russian Circles is a three member post-metal band from Chicago who's musical focus is on evocative instrumental movements, that range between slow laboring build-ups, heavy discordant charges and serene melodic sections. The extensive use of samples and looping allows the band to create sweeping movements that draw you in and create a vibrant, or even murky atmosphere, primarily because of their bass driven attitude. This also allows for the band to create unique and powerful live sets when covering their material in front of an audience.

Russian Circle's previous releases include: Enter (2006), Station (2008), and Geneva (2009) 

Jay's Take on Empros:

Geneva, the bands third release had a similar flow throughout many of its tracks, with a focus on a slower build-up into something more powerful, fierce, or even eerily calm. It's something that worked greatly for them, as Geneva is one of my favorite post-metal records in recent years - so when Empros was announced to be released this year, I was excited for new material from the group. Empros has a larger focus on the bands use of movements that sweep across their range of sound, where for a few minutes you're riding a roller coaster of heavy, bass driven sound, and the next you find yourself in a calm interlude of lightly played ambient guitar - and then you get thrown back into the fray. The idea for Empros was to get away from some of the old pattern and to make a record more similar to their live sets, which focus on an equal use of quiet, melodic interludes and heavy discordant bridges. While the majority of the instrumentation is from Brian Cook's bass, Mike Sullivan's guitar and Dave Turncrantz's drum work, a special note goes to the injection of cello, and accordion by Phil Karnats, providing some great bridge work between tracks, and their timely use throughout the album. Empros is a record you have to check out if you're into post-metal/rock and instrumental music in general - it's incredibly well produced and will definitely earn its share of mileage on your stereos.

Sample of the Day:



- J