Station

These guys are full of ideas. Drummer Dave Turncrantz pounds out the pocket so hard and yet creates inventive rhythm combinations and mind-blowing fills. Guitar player Mike Sullivan experiments with precise loops of melody themes and then erupts with fantastically crushing humbucker punches that send the Russian Circles marching across the battlefield of rock. Bass player Brian Cook bludgeons his bass hard with his pick. All of it together makes your jaw drop. They can be atmospheric and beautiful, and they can raise your pulse with super-fuzz goodness.

Their first record--"Enter"--kicks. This new record--"Station"--also kicks. Grab them both.

With such an amazing debut album, I was pretty curious to see if Russian Circles could follow up their masterpiece "Enter," one of my favourite albums of the genre. Did they deliver again with Station? Yes. Absolutely.

The album opens with the beautiful "Campaign" with a ligth guitar melody and light guitar feedback in the background. Overall it's a fantastic opening track that really sets the mood for the album.

"Campaign" is followed by "Harper Lewis." Featuring one of the catchiest and coolest drum beats I've ever heard, Harper Lewis really and truly shows Russian Circles' diversity. The song is, for the most part, quite heavy and always in your face. More catchy and awesome guitar riffs all around and a perfect lead-in to the title track...

"Station." Ahh...A truly fantastic song worthy of being a title track. By far one of the strongest tracks on the album. Another heavy song, but this time it ends really quite tastefully (not that anything Russian Circles does isn't tasteful no matter how heavy.) Awesome.

Verses is a sort of Explosions in the Sky-esque, dare-I-say post-rock-influenced song. I use that term lightly because Russian Circles doesn't let the blanket of usual post-rock song structure and style of playing overshadow their amazing song-writing and musicianship skills. No, Russian Circles brings to the table what they brought with "You Already Did" from their previous album: a beautiful and totally unique track. When you hear the song, you'll know it's Russian Circles.

Youngblood is next. I'd let the song speak for itself if I absolutely knew you'd listen to this album (which you better!) Youngblood is a mammoth of a song. A behemoth. Youngblood plows through you with little to no mercy. It hardly holds up even once and when the softer part comes in, you're almost sure what's to come: total chaos. The finale of Youngblood will leave you breathless and begging for more (excuse the sexual reference here.) Definitely the most powerful and exhilarating track on the album.

Ah...Xavii. What a beautiful conclusion to a stunning album. Think of Youngblood as middle of a massive tornado. With Xavii, the storm is over and you're left to look at yourself and the damage it's caused. It's a fairly light and easy-going track until the minor key switches in and Dave starts beating on the toms. Clean, yet mean guitars kick in and there's a light build-up until you think it's the end of the song and it kicks in once again and finally ends abruptly.

So yes, Station delivers. It sets the bar even higher than Enter did (yeah, I said it) and leaves you wanting even more Russian Circles. If you liked the first album than I assume you've already bought Station or plan on buying it soon. If not, do so immediately.