Instrumental post-metal trio Russian Circles will release their seventh full-length studio album, Blood Year, this August via Sargent House. The band has teamed up with Heavy Consequence for the premiere of the single “Milano”. Stream it below.
“Milano” is sonically vast, opening with crushing sludge chords that decay and flow through softer minors, spacious breaks, and blastbeat breakdowns. The track showcases the band’s multitude of talents, weaving different styles of metal and post-rock into a six minute, wordless crusher.
Blood Year, due August 2nd, was produced by Kurt Ballou at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, where the band cut its prior albums Enter, Geneva, and Memorial. According a press release, the band has opted to forsake the “divergent musical paths” found on albums like Guidance and Memorial for a more “direct and forceful” collection of songs.
In a different approach than the piecemeal songwriting process of past albums, the band set out to capture the essence of their live show on Blood Year, tracking the songs “together in one room as complete takes without click tracks”. Further guitar overdubs were tracked at Ballou’s God City studio, making for an organic yet sonically expansive recording.
Russian Circles embark on a two-part North American tour, heading out in September with FACS before taking a three-week break and hitting the road alongside Windhand in October. Pre-orders for Blood Year are available here, and the full tour itinerary is below.
Blood Year Artwork:
Blood Year Tracklist:
01. Hunter Moon
02. Arluck
03. Milano
04. Kohokia
05. Ghost on High
06. Sinaia
07. Quartered
Russian Circles Tour Dates:
09/11 — Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon *
09/12 — Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center *
09/14 — Bozeman, MT @ Rialto Bozeman *
09/16 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
09/17 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom *
09/19 — San Francisco, CA @ August Hall *
09/20 — Ventura, CA @ Discovery Ventura *
09/21 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Teragram Ballroom *
09/23 — Mesa, AZ @ The Nile *
09/24 — Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf *
09/25 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
09/28 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
10/18 — Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme +
10/19 — Detroit, MI @ El Club +
10/20 — Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace +
10/21 — Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount +
10/23 — Portsmouth, NH @ 3S ArtSpace +
10/24 — Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair +
10/26 — Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw +
10/27 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer +
10/29 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage +
10/30 — Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry +
11/01 — Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall +
11/02 — Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre +
11/03 — Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade +
11/04 — New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s +
11/06 — Houston, TX @ The Secret Group +
11/08 — Austin, TX @ Levitation
11/09 — Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Company
11/11 — St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall +
* = w/ FACS
+ = w/ Windhand
