GUILLOTINE

This is my first taste of CIRCLE. They are a Finnish band who i've known about for a long time but only took the plunge recently and man i'm so glad I did. A lot of credit goes to Guldbamsen for that. These guys play a modern style of Krautrock that is experimental, psychedelic and at times it really grooves. We get about 75 minutes of music over these 12 tracks in this 2003 release.

"Metsan Henget" is a favourite of mine with the percussion and intricate sounds standing out. Vocal expressions come and go and it turns fuller after 4 minutes although it does settle back again. "Harva Maa" opens with what sounds like picked guitar as percussion joins in. Weird spoken words follow a minute later. "Parton Mies" is a freaky soundscape. "Ojar Pitkin" again has picked guitar much like song 2 but with atmosphere this time.

"Teraskylpy" is another favourite of mine. It's fairly uptempo with a beat and vocal sounds. It turns more intense around 3 minutes then settles back before 5 minutes but the intensty begins to mount again. "Majakkasaari" is dark and atmospheric with some laughter. "Saapavat Ne Merelta" has a beat with bass and guitar and it blends into "Syva" where voices and other strange sounds come in. In fact I thought I heard someone say "My precious" in that Lord Of The Rings style (haha).

"Salar Opi" has pulsating sounds that beat away and what sounds like violin or another stringed instrument. It blends into "Armo" where it's even more stranger. I like it ! "Alta Rautatammeen" has some amazing sounding Fender Rhodes with bass. It's picking up before 5 minutes then spoken vocals join in. Love this song. It blends into "Takaisen" where it settles right down and weird vocals join in sounding like Captain Beefheart.

Man this was a trip that was so well done. I will be checking out more of this band's music for sure. Highly recommended.