Russian Circles play within the confines of instrumental/metal/post-rock as it exists today, a game left to bedroom dwellers glued to guitars and practice pads in an attempt to master technique and then learn how to play through it. To them, bombast is language; the quiet/loud struggle in their dynamic range is all the vocalizing asked of them. It’s hard to be all too expressive with the limited vocabulary afforded them, one abutted by Helmet to the north, Explosions in the Sky to the south, and all manners of junior varsity pedalhoppers in between.
Technically, these guys are pretty much always on, in particular drummer Dave Turncrantz, with a surprising short game that favors taut, precise control over little touches like rim clicking and hi-hat rolls. Guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist-for-hire Brian Cook, of Botch and These Arms Are Snakes, give him plenty of chances to execute pristine builds, as on the opening moments of the title track. He’s also wise not to overplay, but his bandmates on stringed instruments might do well to ignore that style and tear into it. Everything here is so cleanly executed, so devoid of flare and flavor, that the results are quite a chore to get through for anyone who’s been following the score for even a few years through the ascent of similar acts of suburban gravitas like Isis and Pelican. Sullivan employs far too much repetition in both his riff-writing abilities and his performance. He’s a human digital delay pedal, tapping away at his fretboard in circuitous patterns and shredding away on one riff, more concerned with keeping in rhythm than breaking off and exploring all the empty spaces these six orderly tracks create. Everything they lay down on Station reads cold and resolute, yet far too earnest and eager to please.
Despite glaring evidence to the contrary, instrumental rock music can indeed have something to say. Some believe it has the most to say of any rock or pop music out there, for the expressiveness and abilities of the musicians playing it to tell the tales a singer can’t. Russian Circles nail the abilities part so hard that it seems they forgot to consider the expression. These guys have peers which currently flank and outrank them, partly because they’ve all found that voice already. Best to check in with these guys when you’re certain the other shoe has dropped.
