Russian Circles - Discography

Russian Circles is one of the most important bands from the post metal movement, they're a trio from Chicago, formed in 2004. Most of their work is instrumental, but the newer releases feature some vocals, most prominently on the 2013 album "Memorial", that features Chelsea Wolfe singing in the title track.

The band was formed by guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper, both former members of Dakota. They recruited drummer Dave Turncrantz, ex-Riddle of Steel. After the release of their debut, "Enter", Colin exit the band and was replaced by Brian Cook, who had already played in Botch.

Their sound is very similar to that of Pelican, though they have shorter and more straight-forward songs. Their songwriting is rather simple, dedicateed to being played by a single three-piece band, with minimalistic parts added together to increase the atmosphere. This is very noticeable on "Geneva", which features a lot of other instruments but has a very simple songwriting. Their sound relies on the post-rock maximum of "using rock instruments to make non rock music", but heavier and harsher. They stray away from conventional soundscapes to create straight-forward dynamic and progressive metal.

First two albums plus Empros are pretty good for Pelican fans. Geneva has more appeal to prog fans and the last two incorporate a lighter sound.

2006 - Enter

 Flameshovel Records

1 - Carpe

2 - Micah

3 - Death Rides a Horse

4 - Enter

5 - You Already Did

6 - New Macabre

101,2 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2008 - Station

Suicide Squeeze Records

1 - Campaign

2 - Harper Lewis

3 - Station

4 - Verses

5 - Youngblood

6 - XAVII

98,7 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2009 - Geneva

Suicide Squeeze Records

1 - Fathom

2 - Geneva

3 - Melee

4 - Hexed All

5 - Malko

6 - When the Mountain Comes to Muhammad

7 - Philos

103,2 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2011 - Empros

Suicide Squeeze Records

1 - 309

2 - Mlàdek

3 - Schiphol

4 - Atackla

5 - Batu

6 - Praise Be Man

93,2 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2013 - Memorial

Sargent House

1 - Memoriam

2 - Deficit

3 - 1777

4 - Cheyenne

5 - Burial 

6 - Ethel

 7 - Lebaron

8 - Memorial

106,9 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2016 - Guidance

Sargent House

1 - Asa

2 - Vorel

3 - Mota

4 - Afrika

5 - Overboard

6 - Calla

 7 - Lisboa

96,9 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

Lasse Stewart.

Breaking news

We're gonna start posting some obscure post-rock bands too because i'm struggling with finding this material, so i'm extending the blog's reach to include these obscure acts that deserve more recognition.

Just a reminder: we're posting obscure post-rock only. You can find GY!BE and Talk Talk anywhere, my goal is to get these bands to be more well-known and sharing material that's actually hard to find. I may include mainstream post-rock in the future, but only after i finish post-metal.

That's it folks, stay tuned for more sludgy muzak

Lasse Stewart.

Rosetta - Discography

 Rosetta is an american post metal band from Pennsylvania created in 2003 by four high school friends who had already had some experience in other bands. The band is very space rock influenced, having their lyrical themes revolving around astronomy subjects.

 Their formation line-up consisted of four members: Michael Armine (vocalist, keyboardist and synths), David Grossman (bassist), Bruce McMurtrie Jr (drummer) and J. Matthew Weed (guitar, violin and piano). In 2014 guitarist Eric Jernigan joined the band. The line-up hasn't changed since then.

Rosetta has released 6 albums so far, the first three were released under Translation Loss label, and the rest were self-released. Their debut, "The Galilean Satellites", is a two-disc album about a spaceman, which shows the band's spacial lyrics. It can be considered a concept album. since it tells the story of "a man who becomes dissatisfied with the world around him and leaves to find a place of solitude (Europa, one of the galilean satellites of Jupiter). However, upon reaching it, he realizes that he left behind things that were meaningful to him". The second disc is an ambient version of the first. The sound produced in this album would later also appear on "Wake/Lift" and further changed on "A Determinism of Morality". It's incredibly harsh, very agressive and abrasive, mixed together with a spacial and atmospheric feeling. On "A Determinism of Morality", the band expanded into a more progressive sound, maintaning that out-of-this-world and abrasive feeling from the first two albums. On their self-released albums, they incorporated drone influences, expanding their sound even further.

Their magnum opus is, in my opinion. The Galilean Satellites. The storyline is very interesting and makes it worth paying attention to the lyrics. A Determinism of Morality is better for prog death enthusiasts, and the last three have more appeal to drone fans.

2005 - The Galilean Satellites

Translation Loss Records

Disc 1

1 - Départe

2 - Europa

3 - Absent

4 - Itinérant

5 - Au Pays Natal

Disc 2

 

1 - Deneb

2 - Capella

3 - Beta Aquilae

4 - Ross 128

5 - Sol

270,5 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2007 - Wake/Lift

Translation Loss Records

1 - Red In Tooth and Claw

2 - Lift (Part 1)

3 - Lift (Part 2)

4 - Lift (Part 3)

5 - Wake

6 - (Temet Nosce)

7 - Monument

157,1 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2010 - A Determinism of Morality

Translation Loss Records

1 - Ayil

2 - Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin

3 - Blue Day For Croatoa

4 - Release

5 - Revolve

6 - Renew

7 - A Determinism of Morality

111,2 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2013 - The Anesthete

Self-released

1 - Ryu / Tradition

2 - Fudo / The Immovable

3 - In & Yo / Dualities of the Way

4 - Oku / The Secrets

5 - Hodoku / Compassion

6 - Myo / The Miraculous

7 - Hara / The Center

8 - Ku / Emptiness

9 - Shugyo / Austerity

140,8 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

 

2015 - Quintessential Ephemera

Self-released

1 - After the Funeral

2 - (Untitled I)

3 - (Untitled II)

4 - (Untitled III)

5 - (Untitled IV)

6 - (Untitled V)

7 - (Untitled VI)

8 - (Untitled VII)

9 - Nothing in the Guise of Something

119 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2017 - Utopioid

Self-released

1 - Amnion

2 - Intrapartum

3 - Neophyte Visionary

4 - King Ivory Tower

5 - 54543

6 - Détente

7 - Hypnagogic

8 - Qohelet

9 - Intramortem

143,2 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

Lasse Stewart.

Callisto - Discography

Callisto is a finnish sextet of post metal created in 2001. The band has changed their sound completely since the debut in 2004 (True Nature Unfolds). They started off as a hardcore project, but in the aforementioned album sludge and doom metal influences can be heard, and the last releases feature cleaner vocals and overall sound. The band's lyrics speak about christian themes and spiritualism.

The line-up consisted, at 2004, of four musicians (and several guests): Ariel Björklund (drums), Markus Myllykangas (vocals and guitar), Juho Niemelä (bass) and Johannes Nygård (guitar). For the next album, another musician was hired: Arto Karvonen for the synths and samples. For Providence, Jani Ala-Hukkala took part as lead vocalist, with former vocalist doing the backing vocals and scream parts. And for the last album up to date, Johannes was replaced by Tero Holopainen as guitarist.

This post will be a little longer than usual because Callisto is my favorite post metal band. Their early work was too metalcore for my taste, but they soon changed into a post metal aesthetic in their debut, True Nature Unfolds, released in 2004. It's heavily influenced by Cult of Luna, and mixes in a bit of doom metal as well. The whole album has an agressive, bold sound and a straight-forward authentic metal approach without sounding too abrasive. The record received attention from Earache Records, which reissued the album with different artwork in 2005.

In 2006 they released Noir, which followed the steps of the previous album and improved the sound a bit. There is some experimentation going on here, as they added more soft parts that blend together with the harsh parts perfectly. They also added elements from other genres, such as a mellotron and a saxophone. So, this album is really progressive, since it mixes many genres together to create something unique. One may argue though that this album is yet another decent post metal release, and nothing beyond that. I disagree, Callisto really managed to take the atmosphere from Finland and mix christian themes in it, along with diverse experimentation to add to the album's cold, gloomy, envolving and fascinating atmosphere. A true masterpiece.

The time gaps between each album got larger since the debut, as Providence was released only three years after Noir. This is because their songwriting is more complex and involves the whole band, which got bigger as time passed. For this album, there's a change in the lead singing, but not only in the singing - the new member caused a dramatical change. Providence is the exact opposite of Noir. It's soft, warm and just not as good. One may say a heavy band turns to shit in the moment it decides to go softer. Example: Opeth (anyone remember the controversies over Heritage, eh?). This may be true, as the moment Callisto went softer gave us the nadir of their career, but this album has its moments. The heavy ones, that is. They still used that harsh formula of Noir and True Nature Unfolds here, and if there's something good to be said about this album, it's that at least they tried to make something unique. This and the fact that they mastered the change from soft to harsh in seconds. The great moments make this album worth though, they make this album not any worse than albums that i'd rate as 7/10.

Secret Youth came in 2015 furthering their experimentation of Providence in harsher territory. 6 years after their third album, Callisto released a piece of music that recreates the atmosphere of Noir using the elements of Providence. A very interesting experiment, as at the end of the trip you'll be left like the guy on the cover, but will be left hoping for more.

There's not much left to be said, if you want a cleaner sound, go for Providence. For something harsh and metallic, True Nature Unfolds. For experimentation and sadness, Noir. And Secret Youth for a mix between Noir and Providence.

2005 - True Nature Unfolds

 Earache Records

1 - 31 46ºN, 35 14ºE

2 - Blackhole

3 - Limb: Diasporas

4 - Cold Stare

5 - Storm

6 - Caverns of Khafka

7 - Like Abel's Blood Cried For Revenge

8 - Worlds Collide

9 - Masonic

10 - The Great Divorce

155,6 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2006 - Noir

 Fullsteam Records

1 - Wormwood

2 - Latterday Saints

3 - The Fugitive

4 - Backwoods

5 - A Close Encounter

6 - Pathos

7 - Folkslave

8 - Woven Hands

125 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2009 - Providence

 Svart Records

1 - In Session

2 - Rule the Blood

3 - Covenant Colours

4 - Eastern Era

5 - New Canaan

6 - Stasis

7 - Where the Spirits Tread

8 - Dead Weight

9 - Drying Mouths (In a Gasping Land)

10 - Providence

156,7 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

2015 - Secret Youth

 Svart Records

1 - Pale Pretender

2 - Backbone

3 - Acts

4 - The Dead Layer

5 - Lost Prayer

6 - Breasts of Mothers

7 - Grey Light

8 - Ghostwritten

9 - Olds Souls

10 - Dam's Lair Road

130,3 MB - 320 Kbps

Download

                                                      Lasse Stewart.