Now that’s more like it. After a couple of uncommonly lean months, my gig diary was back up to fighting weight in November, and I saw around thirty bands (some of them twice, but we’ll get to that), including some past and present favourites, giving me plenty to write about…
The Load In The gig drought continues. Admittedly, I was out of the country (again) for a good chunk of the month and, typically, almost everything I wanted to see in October happened whilst I was away. I was particularly annoyed to miss Sleep Token’s first headline show, taking place…
The Load-In When you live in a big city, you get used to the transport network being fantastically busy all of the time, especially when most people are trying to get to or from work. Yet every now and then, things will suddenly become freakishly quiet. Through a bizarre and…
Each month, we always seem to come to the same conclusion when it comes to our Editors’ Picks column: Friday release days open the floodgates and unleash a seemingly endless stream of quality new music. But while some of our Editors and Contributors sit down gleefully each week to dive into this newly stocked treasure…
It’s hard to remember, but Circles were once considered at the forefront of the tech-metal/djent explosion that took place around beginning of the decade. The band’s name was once frequently mentioned alongside the likes of Tesseract and Periphery. Yet, while they’ve remained a frequent feature on the Australian live circuit,…
Progfest may not be a name which is too familiar amongst many of our readers. This small, traditionally Melbourne-based music festival has been going strong and steadily growing for the past 10 years and features noted alumni such as Ne Obliviscaris, Caligula’s Horse, sleepmakeswaves, and Twelve Foot Ninja, all of…
I haven’t done one of these posts in a while, and that’s likely because every time I’ve told you to listen to something it’s been by way of a premiere. However, today I’m going to just tell you about a young band called Schemata Theory. The UK may have left the…
Since the release of their debut album, Infinitas, and maiden tour of Europe in the second half of last year, things have been quiet Circles. However, as 2014 draws to a close, the band appears to be reactivating, and have just a released a video for the song, ‘On My…
We get pretty excited about Record Store Day, as it gives many of us on staff a good excuse to blow a ridiculous amount of money on vinyl records. Not that I need that much of an excuse — my collection passed 100 this year — but the event often…
While it may be better known for the release of some seminal ‘djent’ albums by the likes of TesseracT, Uneven Structure and Vildhjarta, another highlight in 2011 was the unexpected emergence of Circles, a band of Melbournians who, with their EP The Compass, not only won the plaudits of critics across the globe, but introduced to the style a refreshing degree of unpretentious accessibility. Fast forward two years, and the band have now returned with Infinitas, an album of powerful ‘djent’ anthems which thankfully retains the infectious accessibility of The Compass, but is also heavier and more aggressive than its predecessor. At the same time, Infinitas demonstrates an increasing sophistication in Circles’ song writing process, and again proves the band to be one of significant promise.
