Style: avant-garde metal, brutal prog, deathgrind (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Oingo Boingo, Mr. Bungle, Pig Destroyer, Cardiacs, We Butter the Bread With Butter
Country: international
Release date: 19 July 2024
Musical chameleonism is often a trait of being a musical genius (see Ulver, Devin Townsend). Neither artist plays more than a couple releases in the same style in a row before growing restless and switching it up completely because their brains must be overflowing with grandiose creative ideas a single genre limits. Musical eclecticism is a far less desirable trait in my opinion. Bands who constantly switch genres within a single track often do so by forcing styles together with a lack of finesse and without the requisite knowledge, skill, or wherewithal of when, how, or why to merge distinct styles convincingly. Usually, it comes off as an immature gimmick. Throughout their four-year career, Circle of Sighs have done a bit of both, starting with progressive doom metal, switching to abstract hip-hop-and-electronica-infused metal, and now cranking out a brutal prog EP Ursus of avant-garde, genre-switching, grindy metal.
Ursus follows the lineage of the Hollywood blockbuster, the cinematic masterpiece, the certified fresh (ok, maybe not that last one) Cocaine Bear. The story which the album follows concerns a bear who takes ayahuasca and in its state of ego dissolution “melds consciousnesses with a trans-dimensional being.” Admittedly, this is a riotous concept, hilarious in scope and executed quite spectacularly from the evil Care Bear on the album cover to the little Midatalantic man’s spoken word about grizzlies in the track intros to the cassette version of the EP coming literally embedded inside of a behemoth, orange-flavored gummy bear. It’s stupid humor, but it’s so over-the-top it works, and Circle of Sighs came up with the only logical improvement of Cocaine Bear: Ayahuasca Bear.
The music is similarly immoderate, smashing together deathgrind and brutal prog, but it’s nowhere near as fun as the concept. The metal parts are produced horribly with the drums overpowering and obnoxious to the point of being headache-inducing. Ursus also has a distinct lack of riffs—everything just kinda sounds like a chugging blob with blast beats and snarls without melody or even interesting rhythmicity. And as alluded to in the intro, eclecticism does Circle of Sighs no favors on Ursus with the jazzy and cabaret flourishes amateurish, immature-ish on a songwriting front, and completely detached from the metal. The saxes, banjos, theremins, and flutes are a mixing of musical shades that come out like when you mix a bunch of condiments and you’re left with a vomitous shade of brown: the taking-no-prisoners production just has the distinct genres fight for which style of instrument can make the most noise without any thought about what sounds tolerable or pleasant. I get Circle of Sighs are quirky for quirkiness’s sake (their Bandcamp bio states, “Mime metal. Blackened juggling. Definitely not a cult.”), but I wish their music had the strength of execution of their silly concept.
The worst moments take place in the latter half of the EP with annoying circus music and extended ambience in “Ursus 5,” the awful lyrics and spoken vocal performance in “Ursus 4” (a snippet of lyrics: “The feast rages into the long night our worlds now and forever linked through the chasm of glowing emerald crystals that sprung from the ground where once there were car dealerships, Ikea, Starbucks and Taco Bell.”), and the annoying nothingness of the cover of“Horsehead” from the OG obnoxious prog Cardiacs. Unfortunately, it’s not just painful to listen to from the production, it’s actively annoying and cringey circus prog. Even at only twenty minutes, I feel like I’m being strapped to a chair and forced to listen to this for an eternity as a prisoner of war.
I don’t think musical chameleonism is a trait of musical geniusness in this case, sadly, but rather an unfocused and sloppy idea of what Circle of Sighs wants to be as a band. Instead of honing their skills to master a style, they switch from one mediocre attempt at genre to another. The poor eclecticism is just the cherry on top. If Circle of Sighs want to ever write something of substance, they need to stick with one genre for a little bit longer both in each song and from album to album.
Recommended tracks: Ursus 2
You may also like: Maladie, Eunuchs, Lou Kelly, The Beast of Nod
Final verdict: 3/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: independent
Circle of Sighs is:
Collyn McCoy – Vocals, Upright Bass, Electric Upright Bass, Bass Guitar, Guitar, Samples, Percussion
Chris Soohoo – Vocals, Mime, Projections, Puppetry
Ryan Thomas Johnson – Vocals, Keyboards, Banjo
Ian Schweer – Drums
Geoff Yeaton – Saxophones
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