Russian Circles- Memorial: The DJ Oppo Review

"Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire" (arch-duke-maxyenko) 02/01/2014 at 14:40 • Filed to: dj oppo review

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I cannot say what years have come and gone

I only know the silence - it breathed on and on

What sang in me sings no more

Where stood a wild heart stirred no more

There stood a wild heart

And I have been slain

Head full of ghosts tonight

Have I gone insane

Was it to go down

To want you to stay

Head full of ghosts tonight

Have I gone insane?

That poem appears on the front of the record sleeve for Memorial. Memorial is the latest album by the post-metal band Russian Circles. It was released on October 29, 2013, but I just got my copy of it yesterday, and this is my review.

This album is art, this is metal at it's purest form. The heaviness, pain, and anger are all there, but the screaming comes only from the guitar. What these three men have done is paint an epic picture using their instruments.

To me, this picture is of a late 1800's arctic expedition. It's night and you're on the ragged on worn ship sailing through the dark, cold, and rough seas. The waves pick up the ship and slam it down upon the chunks of ice. Yet, you plow on through, supplies and crew going overboard, no one can save them. The outlook is bleak, the ship is sinking, the mast knocks you out, cold. You wake up with the ship frozen in the ice, you have made it, but there is no going back. The album is over.

A track by track review is impossible as the songs flow seamlessly from one to the next, except for the intermission that comes with the end of side one. It is that symphonic, that masterful; yet, it will go largely unrecognized by the general public.

My final score: 5/5 Do buy it, put it on and drive off into the sunset.

Format: Vinyl played on a Scott PS-17A belt driven turntable hooked up to a multi-brand sound system.

whoarder is tellurium > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 02/01/2014 at 14:46

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AW yes, I loves me some Russian Circles. As a drummer, Dave Turncrantz is a beast.

Great band, I am also pleased you bought such good music on vinyl.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > whoarder is tellurium 02/01/2014 at 14:49

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I had to.

Glad to see another drummer here!

MC_Leon6494 > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire 02/01/2014 at 15:14

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That's a sweet vinyl, translucent blue. Fantastic album as well. If you've never heard of them, 65daysofstatic is similar to these guys and I recommend them as well.