Empros

The fourth LP from this mostly instrumental Chicago trio swings from exceedingly beautiful to punishingly physical in seconds flat. Russian Circles' ever-more-legit metal chops and well-realized compositional ambitions leave Empros feeling bigger and stranger than its predecessor.

In its ongoing attempt to render heavy metal lighter than air, the instrumental trio Russian Circles has made some giant leaps upward—the most recent being 2009’s gorgeous Geneva, an album that emulsified Godflesh and Godspeed You! Black Emperor into a thick yet atmospheric protoplasm. It’s taken two years for Russian…

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Only the best have been canny enough to let their sound evolve and avoid the quiet/loud rut, a hallowed clan including luminaries such as our very own Mogwai, Portland shape-shifters Grails, Montreal masters of emotional cacophony Silver Mt. Zion and now, thankfully, Russian Circles.