Album Rating: 3.0

Older Mono is stunning, but everything post Parents is just meh at best.

Album Rating: 2.5

Random, potentially thread derailing hot-take: Hymn to the Immortal Wind > everything GY!BE have ever produced.

Album Rating: 2.5

i actually prefer you are there to hymn



that record is such a fucking 5

Album Rating: 3.0

Random, potentially thread derailing hot-take: Hymn to the Immortal Wind > everything GY!BE have ever produced



I can get behind that.

Album Rating: 3.0

Nah



Maybe if you’re a bit of a classical head



Too big a classical influence for me, it is pretty though

Album Rating: 2.5

This is sounding pretty good tbh.

Album Rating: 3.5

The slide guitar in arluck is just perfect

Album Rating: 4.0

“Random, potentially thread derailing hot-take: Hymn to the Immortal Wind > everything GY!BE have ever produced”

I wouldn’t even put that in the top three Mono albums, let alone say it’s better than a classic like Lift Your Skinny Fists. Their collaboration with World’s End Girlfriend is massively underrated, though.

Album Rating: 2.5

Walking Cloud / You Are There / Hymn to the Immortal Wind are Mono's only essential albums, but I do like For My Parents a fair amount and their new album has some lovely moments in it (Sorrow is beautiful), even if a number of the songs kind of trail off without a climax.

Album Rating: 2.5

There are some cool riffs here and the production is stellar, sounds beefy. Perhaps it could’ve been fleshed out a little more at certain points. I appreciate it when restraint is shown, but for the style this does feel a tad brief. Despite that it’s not massively far off the quality of a couple of their earlier releases.

Album Rating: 3.5

Would love to hear these guys with a harsh vocalist with a lot of emotion in his voice ie. Rinoa. They also flirt with blackgaze a bit on this on a track or two and I think they could really make some memorable stuff there too. But yeah just a safe record overall.

Album Rating: 3.0

Review is pretty accurate. Pretty much what they've been doing over the last few records. I'd lean a bit more towards a 3 but 2.5 is justified.

Album Rating: 4.0

This is solid. Really solid. But akin to what Doof said earlier, I don't think this is all that interesting compositionally. Something about this feels a little too simple in how it's put together. I don't think I want these guys to do long epics though. Night Verses had similar length songs last year and they were much more interesting. Indeed, I like the relative brevity that Russian Circles are going with. I just think there is more room in that format for cleverer song writing.

Album Rating: 2.5

Compositionally it could certainly have benefited from a little more flair, there's definitely a feeling that this is a trifle basic in that sense, albeit solid. It's a shame because I really dig the production and they know their way around a riff. Perhaps a missed opportunity.

Album Rating: 4.0

Thank you Yikes. Someone who feels about this just like I do

Album Rating: 4.0

Uncontroversial opinion: Quartered goes absolutely hard af

Took the words out of my mouth with this one. It’s actually kind of surprising how little experimentation and fun they seem to be having on this album. Dudes have been putting out yawn-worthy material since Memorial. The part in the review about the neural networks is something I thought about while listening to Blood Year. It sounds like an album written by an AI that listened to Russian Circles discography for 500 hours straight.

Album Rating: 4.0

This band can do no fucking wrong.



“Quartered” is the heaviest track they’ve ever released. Love how they take pretty run of the mill riffage and twist it around just enough to make it interesting on there.



Also, they’re unreal live. You should go if you get the chance.

Album Rating: 4.0

The finish of Sinaia, with its black metal influenced wall of sound, and then Quartered, is a great finish to this album.

Album Rating: 4.0

Honestly, I'm surprised by the low scores. Thought this was pretty damn good