Album review: Russian Circles - 'Geneva' (Suicide Squeeze)

Words: overrated. Just ask this Chicago trio (now with Botch/These Arms Are Snakes’ Brian Cook as permanent bassist), who can evoke sunbursts and starlight without a single lyric. And while the domineering post-metal they’re known for colours this third record in granite tones, it’s the squalling ‘Melee’, ‘Malko’’s desperate violence and the queasy menace of ‘When The Mountain Comes To Muhammad’ that confirm RC are more than just noisy bastards. What’s more, combined with the breaths of quiet beauty – the tinges of regal brass on ‘Philos’, the way ‘Hexed All’ feels like a note written on the sky that says ‘everything’s OK, man’ – ‘Geneva’ blossoms into an evocative, inspiring album.

Ben Patashnik

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8 out of 10