Across two decades, Russian Circles have evolved from a sinister math-rock outfit to a brutally efficient post-metal machine that’s finally selling out theaters across the world. Their headlining gig at Revolution Hall on Saturday, March 15th was one such show, and within the span of their first two tracks–“309” from their 2011 Empros, and “Harper Lewis,” the standout from their second album Station that’s functioned as their calling card since its release in 2008–it was obvious why the trio is so beloved heshers and normies alike. Guitarist Mike Sullivan, bassist Brian Cook, and drummer Dave Turncrantz distill a generation of heavy music into punchy riff-fests that feel as if they were engineered in a lab to tickle the lizard brain of anyone who longs for tthrill-crankinging Master of Puppets or Dopethrone to 11 and peeling out of a cup de sac in a baked out conversion van. It’s also instrumental, which means you can plod along at your email job with minimal distraction from their music if that’s your inclination.
“Harper Lewis” was followed by “Conduit,” a groove-driven thrasher from 2022’s Gnosis that’s a rather obvious product of Sullivan’s pandemic-era time-killer that involved long walks around his new home of LA with Pantera and At the Gates on endless repeat for over a year. Blink and you’ll miss the subtle embellishments offered by Cook and the Moog Taurus bass pedal he plays with his feet to punch up the transitions in what’s the most straightforward and rawkus head-banger in the groups 8-album catalog. Two tracks later, they served up “Geneva,’ the title cut from their 2009 album that was Cook’s first full-time foray with the group. With Sullivan’s layers of looped minor-key riffage, Cook’s thundering bass work and Turncrantz putting on a clinic on melding a tight backbeat with impossible fills and dynamics, it’s the perfect track to slot into a post-metal playlist for a curious acquaintance who’s not entirely hyped on the meandering, often indulgent nature of the genre they share with acts like Alcest, Red Sparowes and the evenings opening act Pelican.
After the middling grind of “Betrayal” the crowd watched Sullivan huddle over his pedalboard to queue up the echoey loop that beings “Gnosis,” a spacey atmospheric piece that lands amongst tracks like “Afrika” and “1777” in the Circles’ sub-catalog of post-rock adjacent fare. Since 2008’s Station each of their records has offered at least one track that teases some pensive guitar sparkles that your average Mogwai or Explosions In the Sky fan would find titillating, only to turn a dark corner and descend into bludgeoning evil halfway through the track. It’s a signature of theirs that’s not out of mileage yet, but the chugging thrust of “Conduit” and “Geneva” got much warmer receptions than the moody epics of tracks like “Gnosis” and “Mota.”
The set commenced with the 1-2 punch of “Youngblood” and “Mládek,” a pair of fan favorites that are each fantastic closers in their own right. Both kick off with loops of knotty legato that harken back to Sullivan’s early era of Yngwie and Eddy worship, with the former maintaining a menacing propulsion throughout while the latter is the closest thing the Circles’ catalog has to an anthem of any sort. Tacking both tracks onto the end was one of many generous gestures that makes Russian Circles one of the most user-friendly acts in the disparate realm of heavy music. It takes ingenuity, chops and fearlessness to snatch the best bits of metal’s many subgenres and use them to craft a magpie’s nest of highly-gratifying guitar rock that appeals to listeners well outside the narrow boundaries drawn around doom, prog and black metal. Sullivan and company hit the ground running two decades ago on their debut record Enter, and to this day they still pull off the impossible task of giving fans exactly what they want while still tweaking their winning formula ever so slightly on each record. It’s encouraging that their transition from noodly math-rock with an evil bent to punishing hesher rock found purchase among metalheads who would otherwise find instrumental guitar rock too wimpy or indulgent for their tastes, and it’s exciting to see them absolutely crush their live sets night after night. If you have an appetite for loud music but find the shoddy vocals associated with doom, stoner or black metal to be a non-starter, Russian Circles are exactly the band for you.
