Russian Circles: Geneva

Artist: Russian Circles
Album: Geneva
Date Released: October 20, 2009
Genre: post-rock, post-metal, progressive rock
Rating: 8.7

Geneva is the third full-length album by the Chicago post-rock three-piece, Russian Circles. This album comes only one year after their excellent and transitionary Station, and it finds the band continuing to explore new sonic spaces and possibilities.

Geneva features a broader arrangement than their first two releases, namely the addition of cello (Allison Chesley) and violin (Susan Voelz). The tracks are still epic and fiery, as exemplified by the goose-bump inducing "When the Mountain Comes to Muhammad" -- but now, with the added emphasis on more nuanced pacing and song-progression, the band is able to create sprawling and often meditative tracks.

Russian Circles, once regarded as being purely about the post-metal, is clearly moving away from sheer heaviness and the cliched progressions that have often marred the genre. Sounding much less like Pelican and more like Evpatoria Report, the band is continuing to evolve. And with Geneva, Russian Circles have produced their most realized work to date.