The latest entry in Southern Records' Latitudes series is from Finland's mighty Circle. Even though the combination of the band's name and the title of the album seems like a nod to one of Celtic Frost's classic songs, this release focuses on the band's more spacey sounds than on their classic metal-worshipping moments. Like most of their previous albums, there are some amazing moments on Tyrant but also a few stumbles along the way.
Southern
A recurring problem that plagues most Circle albums is that they get a good idea but never quite pull it off properly. This problem occurs during opening song, "Screaming Luovutus," which was initially the weak point of Tyrant. I was disappointed with the overly frenetic and formless drift of sound that greeted my ears. The interlocking rhythms sound wrong together at first but on the second and third time around the piece began to click with me. I still think it's not quite as strong as the other two pieces on the disc but it is most certainly not the chink in the album's armor that I originally took it to be. On the other hand, despite covering similar ground to the first piece, "Steel Torment Warrior" is immediately accessible. Perhaps its strangeness is softened by having already experienced "Screaming Luovutus" but even so, it works so much better than the preceding track. Part of the appeal is the pulsating synth in the background which is painfully close to Nurse With Wound’s "Intravenous" in spirit. Both of these pieces are good but not fantastic.
The final track, "Amputation Crusade," is where Circle fully engage in their Krautrock revival and this is the role that I always feel is their strong point as a band. The motorik rhythms and spaced out atmospheres are in a completely different league to their heavy metal setting. The languid and hypnotic "Amputation Crusade" is not their best take on the Krautrock theme but it is definitely head and shoulders above a lot of their more recent back catalogue. The slow moving synths and grunts over the almost country-ish guitar melody followed by a supernova of drums and guitar is exceptionally good. This unsettling 15 minutes caps off Tyrant perfectly.
Along with the recent double album Miljard, Tyrant is proof that Circle still have plenty of music left worth listening to. I think their glory days may be behind them but definitely the band is too young for retirement. They could even show a new burst of inspiration rather than re-treading the same worn paths that they have been doing. While I enjoyed their heavy metal edge, I think that edge has become blunted in recent years and in any case, it was always overshadowed by their more psychedelic tendencies. With Tyrant’s looser style I feel the band are shifting in the right direction and I'd like to see where they take it to next.
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