Aaron Danneman 2008-08-07
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
I got into the whole post rock/instrumental scene about a year ago, and up untill I heard of Russian Circles I thought the whole genre was full of very creative musicians who unfortunetly can not really play their instruments well. Bands like Explosions in the Sky, Isis, or Pelican played music that I like, but it would be pushing it to say that any of them are actually very technical with their playing. Isis was very right-hand rhythm oriented and were talented in that aspect, but compared to other metal bands outside of the post rock genre they really don't measure up much (they still make great songs however). What does all this have to do with Russian Circles and Station? Well beforehand I always had wondered what an instrumental band would sound like if everyone in it were great musicians, and I think with Russian Circle we have the answer.
This CD proves wrong any concept of what defined post rock, other than the long instrumental part. They sound like (for the most part) that they were trying to be a "normal" band with a singer, but along the way they never could find anyone who fit so they just played without one, putting more focus on the music. So lets get right into that:
Campaign: I honestly could care less for this song. It's pretty much just ambience for half the song and then never really builds into anything meaningful. Having said that, I don't mind listening to it, I just feel the album would be the same without it. I usually skip to the next track-
Harper Lewis: This song blew me away the first time I heard it, and it continues to be one of my overall favorite songs of all time. This is where I realized this band was something else: The guitarist uses a loop pedal to play riffs over each other, he's actually playing heavy riffs, and he even finger taps! The drummer has some meaty fills and a few really original rhythms played on the high-hat stand. The bassist has heavy chunky beats to sustain the groove. Overall, with all the changes you would expect from a post rock band thrown in with all the musicianship of a jam band, this song owns.
Station: Pretty much everything I said about the last song goes here as well. Harper Lewis and Station are the two best songs on this album, and I could listen to them over and over again.
Versus: Another song that's ambience based, but I actually like this song. I think it fits very well as an ending to Station. It doesn't hold much on its own however. Has a cool disorted bass line.
Youngblood: This song tries to be another hard hitting heavy song like Harper Lewis or Station, but imo it falls short. It's still not a bad song, but it just doesn't really quite reach what those other songs did. Starts with a constant driving pace up untill about the last minute, then it dies/rebuilds for a pretty solid epic ending.
Xavii: The last song on the album is one more of thier slower atmospheric songs. The shortest song on the album by quite a bit, it just seems to be there as a needed ending. It's not a bad song, but it's not a great one either.
Overall, I think I would really rate this album with four songs becuase of the slower songs that I usually skip. But because of the inventiveness of their few masterpieces, I give it five. You can't hear music like this anywhere else, comparing them to other instrumental bands just doesn't work, they are too different. If you can, give Harper Lewis or Station a listen, trust me it's wortht the album. I can't wait to see what they come out with next!
