It’s not very often we have the privilege of saying something lives up to its billing and creates exactly what is expected and anticipated, if not more. It’s been five years in the making, and in that time it would have been all too easy for The Out_Circuit to lose their cutting edge. To much relief they haven’t, ‘Pierce The Empire With A Sound’ is masterpiece both of both epic, and often, intimate proportions.
The diversity between the glorious melodies and the often chaotic and frantic full blown rock-outs is extreme at the very least. A remarkable understanding of dynamic has certainly gone into this collection of songs. The intimacy is employed during the more tender moments of such songs as ‘We’, where The Out_Circuit carry you away into an ambience driven dreamworld. Dreamworld is fitting, you could almost drift off to sleep during such songs, the four minutes remarkably feel like so much longer, it’s the quiet before the storm, and it underlines the prevailing feeling of change on this album.
The album starts off with a nice enough feel, the electronic elements mixing it up with both screamed and sung vocals, and the whole thing doesn’t really kick off on you until you get to ‘The Fall of Las Vegas.’ We arrive here through a sea of ambience, vocals, screaming, electro and some often full on guitar lines, but this song threatens the most to fall into the post-hardcore genre they attribute themselves to in some small part. You almost feel as genre is a dirty word though, there is a blend of indie, hardcore, electro and so many more so called genres. This is simply the sound of a genre, The Out_Circuit seem to have defined themselves miles apart from anything else.
The moody ‘Lost Pilot’ almost threatens to erupt into a mass of audio diarheoa but during it’s near seven minutes it just retains enough dignity and holds off. The then glorious and dreamy ‘New Wine’ comes in just as you were expecting something massive to emerge. It is massive in its own right, but not quite by the standard of a full on hardcore song, but epically so. For all the heavy moments, they never quite go all out with it and maintain the nicer melodic moments.
It is an album which at times feels slightly unsure of its identity, however it does come through and push on from strength to strength by the end. Closer Scarlet doesn’t feel so much like a song as just ambient noise. It’s an interesting way to end, leaving you hoping for another big crescendo which never quite develops. For all the strengths, this album may not keep you interested all the way through. If you can make it through all ten songs then you will be rewarded with a unique and exciting album.
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The Out_Circuit - Pierce The Empire With A Sound
Mary Pierce out of Wimbledon
(AP)