Circadian Rhythm

Stumbling across a band that makes you remember why you scour forums and blogs, wading through hours of shitty metal songs, is always a pleasant surprise. One in every 50 (or maybe every 100) bands just has that perfect balance of things in music that you really like and the minute you hear them you know you're in for hours of listening to their back catalog. Thurisaz is just that for me, and they tickle all of my special music nerd places. The only downside of listening to Circadian Rhythm is the shame of not having checked it out sooner.

Actually, that might be going a little bit too far. This is an album that's designed to appeal to a niche within metal--the small sub-segment of us that like a little syrup mixed in with the heavier tones. This community spans across many subgenres, from melodic death metal to black metal to melodeath/doom and everything in between, and where Thurisaz stand is directly in the middle of that. Sometimes I'm reminded a bit of older Katatonia's penchant for melodies that plod along and sort of just hang in the air, but the riffing is also frequently supplemented by a "sorrowful chugging" approach a la Insomnium. On top of that, the keyboards make their presence felt very often, adding a whole other layer to the music. I'm not sure what genre tag really works here, and the "Atmospheric death/black metal" tag that's been attributed to them doesn't really work for me. I suppose you could say this is like Dissection with more slower parts and keyboards patching up the difference? There are some riffs that sound bouncy and folky here and there, but this album's atmosphere isn't at all that of folk metal.

Maybe understanding Thurisaz entirely through reference to the melodic side of metal is throwing me off. Due to the more linear structure and pacing, occasional clean vocals, and just the general warmer sense of melody, this could perhaps be more comparable to prog rock in some aspects. Thurisaz is clearly a metal band at the core, mind you, but every effort is made on Circadian Rhythm to expand on the metallic core. You know, extreme metal that tries its hardest to avoid the trappings of extreme metal. Opeth and Agalloch are perhaps two of the more notorious perpetrators of this style. I find bands that take this approach are much easier to appreciate if you take them more as really heavy rock bands as opposed to really flowery extreme metal bands, and Thurisaz ends up sounding very comparable to the two bands mentioned above when you listen from beginning to end. Aside from the harsh vocals (well-done, mid-ranged black metal rasps) and the overblown songwriting, there's nothing in the way of jarring tempo shifts or tense atmospheres to really staple the fact in your head that this is a death/black metal album.

I suppose it's impossible to take one specific point of reference to approaching this album, just because the range of styles blended in here is so diverse. You tend to remember specific moments of songs as opposed to entire songs. That guitar part of the beginning of "Fading Dreams" that has what sounds like a slightly warped Red Hot Chili Peppers riff, the slow build within the chugging on the verses of "Falling", the Akerfeldt-esque cleans on "Past Perfect"...there's actually a good deal of little songwriting quirks and flourishes within the songs that will stick out, although they'll probably differ from mine depending on your taste.

Surprisingly, it all manages to remain cohesive. Normally albums that try to be as expansive and all-encompassing as this one does fall through. Perhaps the musicians lack a unified vision, or one instrument dominates at the expense of others. Thurisaz manage to alleviate this problem for the most part by giving reach instrument a role in the music that doesn't overstay its welcome. The bass makes some interesting appearances at times, they seem to know when to smoothly switch between harsh and clean vocals and the keyboards are exactly where they need to be in the mix. I can't stand most overblown, symphonic metal almost entirely due to the keyboards about 90% of the time. Cradle of Filth were always a little too immersive even on the early albums, even something like Limbonic Art is too much for me most of the time, but Circadian Rhythm got it just right--the keyboards are doing enough that they don't sound like a completely useless backdrop, but they also don't take over what is supposed to be guitar-based music.

Although Thurisaz pull off this grand, immersive approach much better than most bands in the same vein, their style does not come without its limitations. Due to just how vast everything sounds, ironically enough the album actually lacks a really strong sense of dynamics. Most of the songs, although they try a lot of different things, end up having the same feel to them. This isn't entirely a bad thing, because it is a testament to how strong the album is overall, but it is a bit exhausting to listen to all in one go. By the end of the album, the barrage of emotional climaxes throughout Circadian Rhythm leave you pretty drained by the time the album ends. I can't pick a favorite track nor a least favorite, all I can say is that no matter where I start in the album, it starts off amazing and gradually the effect wears off. Usually I can make it about for or five tracks in before my feels can't take the repeated shots to the gut anymore and I move on to something else.

Just listen in moderation, I suppose. This isn't the kind of thing you're gonna want to listen to over and over again (as I am doing for the purposes of this review), because you'll get burned out fairly quickly and the constant sappy emotion will seem cheap and contrived. I'd listen to this album for the same reasons people listen to gimmicky, story-driven power metal like Rhapsody or something: maybe you've had a bad day at work, you're grumpy and alone at home with nothing to do, so you just put on an album and let yourself be completely absorbed by the otherworldly fantasy. Circadian Rhythm has a similar effect, but when you listen to them you don't look quite as dorky as Rhapsody fans. You still look pretty dorky, but hey, not a bad deal at all!

Even if you approach the album properly, though, there's still a good chance you're going to think this is a bit soft. If you're in that little cluster of people that like bombastic, artsy music that doesn't emphasize technical wankery, this is gonna be a great listen. If you're burned out on your Opeth collection or wish they hadn't dropped the metal from their sound, this album might be a good place to turn. Perhaps if you're like me and are currently wallowing in sorrow at the notion that Agalloch broke up (or, at least at this point, is likely continuing without Dekker, Anderson and Walton), discovering this band could be a nice consolation prize. If none of the above descriptions apply to you, go back to listening to Suffocation or whatever you think "real metal" is or something.

Whether or not this kind of stuff is your thing, I would still encourage you to give Circadian Rhythm a shot nonetheless. It's very well-performed and is a standout release within its subgenre, although I wouldn't say it's without flaws or anything, but it definitely has the potential to surprise you. Circadian Rhythm is the first thing I've heard in full from this band, and they just put out a new album last year, so I'm eager to catch up on what's going on with these guys right now, and you should be eager to check this out as well.