Memorial (Russian Circles album)

Memorial
Studio album by Russian Circles
Released October 29, 2013 (2013-10-29)
Recorded May 2013; Electrical Audio studios (Chicago, Illinois)[1]
Genre Post-metal, instrumental metal
Length 36:59
Label Sargent House
Producer Brandon Curtis
Russian Circles chronology
Empros
(2011)		 Memorial
(2013)		 Guidance
(2016)

Memorial is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Russian Circles. The album was released on October 29, 2013 through Sargent House. Memorial was produced by Brandon Curtis (Secret Machines, Interpol), who also produced the band's two previous albums, Empros (2011) and Geneva (2009).[2]

Bassist Brian Cook said that Memorial is more "polarizing" between heavy and soft parts than previous efforts, and that the "heavy parts are much more blown out and exaggerated while the pretty moments are far more restrained, delicate, and atmospheric."[2] Cook also described the album as being darker and more somber than previous efforts.[3] Inspired by Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals, Memorial's album structure features the similarly composed intro/outro songs "Memoriam" and "Memorial" to make the album start and end in the same place.[3]

Prior to the release of Memorial, Russian Circles released online streams of "Deficit" in August 2013,[2] "Memorial" in September 2013[3] and "1777" in October 2013[4] to promote the album. Russian Circles' first tour in support of Memorial will be a late-2013 European tour with Chelsea Wolfe.[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic88/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk(8.5/10)[6]
Allmusic[7]
Exclaim!(8/10)[8]
The Guardian[9]
PopMatters(10/10)[10]
Pitchfork(7.8/10)[11]
Sputnikmusic(5.0/5)[12]

Memorial received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 88, based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[5] Writing for AllMusic, Gregory Heaney praised the album, stating that Memorial was "one of the band's strongest works to date", giving it four-and-half-stars out of five.[7] Brice Ezell of PopMatters, rated the album ten out of ten and called it "one of 2013’s true artistic masterpieces".[10] Dom Lawson from The Guardian was also positive writing that "Right now, few bands conjure such vital and nourishing food for the imagination."[9]

Accolades

PopMatters ranked Memorial 54th on their 2013 best 75 albums list[13] and 12th on their best metal albums list.[14] The album was also ranked 13th on Pitchfork top 40 metal albums of 2013.[15]

Track listing

All music written by Russian Circles.[1]

  1. "Memoriam" – 1:28
  2. "Deficit" – 6:41
  3. "1777" – 7:20
  4. "Cheyenne" – 4:24
  5. "Burial" – 4:43
  6. "Ethel" – 4:02
  7. "Lebaron" – 4:36
  8. "Memorial" – 3:45

Personnel

Memorial personnel adapted from CD liner notes.[1]

Russian Circles

Additional musicians

Recording and production

Artwork and design

References

  1. 1 2 3 Memorial (Media notes). Russian Circles. Sargent House. 2013. CD digipack. SH110.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Adams, Gregory (August 8, 2013). "Russian Circles Unveil 'Memorial,' Premiere New Track". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Blistein, Jon (September 13, 2013). "Russian Circles Brood on Meditative 'Memorial' – Song Premiere". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  4. ↑ Ritchie, Matthew (October 7, 2013). "Russian Circles – '1777'". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Memorial Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Russian Circles: Memorial". AbsolutePunk. December 5, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Heaney, Gregory. "Memorial - Russian Circles : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Russian Circles: Memorial". Exclaim!. October 25, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Lawson, Dom (October 24, 2013). "Russian Circles: Memorial - review". The Guardian. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Ezell, Brice (October 21, 2013). "Russian Circles: Memorial". PopMatters. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Russian Circles: Memorial". Pitchfork. November 21, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Russian Circles: Memorial". Sputnikmusic. November 1, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  13. ↑ "The 75 Best Albums of 2013". PopMatters.com. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  14. ↑ "The Best Metal Albums of 2013". PopMatters.com. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  15. ↑ Brandon Stosuy (2013-12-26). "The Top 40 Metal Albums of 2013". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
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