Russian Circles new album “Station” contains a lot of elements you’d expect from the band, which is one of the reasons why its a good record.  The album starts off with the track “Campaign” which begins with a mathy riff set over an ambient droning guitar, and sounds almost too pretty for the band. The song increases its build with many layers of delayed, ambient guitars and eventually gives way to…well…another mathy riff, before Turncrantz cymbal and snare rim hits lead the band into a soft groove followed by a heavy tribal section.

The expectation is one of the best things about this album, just when you think a song is going to get loud and punishing it keeps you guessing and waiting. Turncrantz drumming helps the anticipation build a lot, everything that made the percussion on the first album great is displayed here again…solid grooves, fast fills, cymbal flourishes and heavy tribal tom beats.

I am really enjoying this album, I feel that the band has all evolved as players. The production on this album, once again is great, everything can be heard clearly, when the guitars kick in they are intense, the snare, bass drum and tom sounds are all crystal clear and the bass guitar is punchy as well. I think the band has managed to trump themselves, as I may like this one more than their first album “Enter”.