Band: Circles
Album: Infinitas
Release Date: Out Now
As debut album’s go its important for bands to unleash something that outlines their intent, with Circles they have created a piece of work that grabs you by the scruff of the neck. Once these songs erupt through the speakers, its clear to see that the band have made an explosive start to their discography. ‘Infinitas’, signifies why you should take notice right away of Circles.
Opening track ‘Erased’ builds suspense, with ambient tones and harmonized vocals, before erupting into a monolith of beefy riffs and rip-roaring vocals the change in tempo sets everything ablaze, this is the kind of song that would make a great opener on the live circuit.
This is definitely one for those fans of progressive metal, it toys with so many different genres, yes it we get hit with groove-laden djenty riffs that we get with tracks like ‘As It Is Above’ and ‘So It Is Below’. These glisten with metal purity and are hard driven numbers, but we get more musical diversity when ‘The Signal’ brings us these eastern atmospheric elements, with strings and bongo drumming bringing this call to arms vibe to the album. Vocally its harmonic and shows the ranges that frontman Perry Kakridas can really reach.
Being a completely self-recorded album, with guitarist Ted Furuhashi on producing duty it has come out sounding so fucking clean cut, this guy is a true pro. Tracks like ‘Another Me’ and ‘Responses’ are made to sound absolutely massive, who needs big fancy recording studios when you can produce something this good as a debut effort, it really is mind-blowing.
This album keeps delivering and is always evolving as it progresses from the electronic ‘Ground Shift’ which vocally has some very Mike Patton-esque moments, to the more emotionally enthralling ‘Visions‘, you really don’t have to worry about anything going stale here, its organic and has so many hooks to keep the listener entertained throughout.
Curtains come to a close with the 7 minute beast that is ‘Verum Infinti’, which really is for those who love their instrumentals, its a riff party and you are all invited. Its breakdowns and key changes are heavier than a Japanese sumo wrestler and vocally it is ferociously explosive!
As debut albums go, it ticks all the boxes on what to do to get people talking about your music, it sets the scene for what can only be great things to come. They have proved here that they are not one dimensional, which can only be a good thing, some bands these days stay stuck with the same sound over and over again, Circles really do have the ability to expand beyond the horizon.
8.5/10
Reviewed by: James Hingle
