Circle of Dust – Machines of Our Disgrace

By RingMaster Review on January 20, 2017 • ( 0 )

As treats go, the re-release last year of all four Circle of Dust albums was rarely rivalled, until the last sigh of 2016 that is and the unveiling of a brand new collection of songs from the 90’s emerging industrial / electronic-rock project. Circle of Dust was the introduction to the craft and stirring talent of artist/producer Klayton, the fore-runner to his acclaimed and inspiring project Celldweller though the differences to the pair of propositions is an open roar no more potent than in the breath-taking Machines of Our Disgrace.

The quartet of Circle of Dust releases in Circle of Dust, Brainchild, Metamorphosis, and Disengage and also the Misguided album from his side project Argyle Park had been ‘lost’ to our ears for over twenty years with the rights to all unavailable to Klayton after the labels they were released through shut down back in the nineties. After two decades chasing, he re-gained ownership of the rights in 2015 and set about re-mastering each of the five full-lengths last year, expanding all with additional demos, unreleased bonus tracks, acoustic/alternate versions of tracks as well as some new remixes.

Whether they were the spark to writing new Circle of Dust songs and creating a brand new episode in its distinct landscape of adventure or a new album was an idea already in motion matters little in the face of an imagination lit and gripping proposal offered by Machines of Our Disgrace. Entangling metal and electronic essences in a virulently infectious industrial incitement, Klayton and album set another bar for others to be inspired by. There is formidable steel to riffs and a backbone of rhythms which invade the senses with a crunch throughout the release while surrounding them a multi-varied and ever present snarl stalks sound and lyrics.

machines_of_our_disgrace_cover_RingMasterReview Opening with the suggestive air and throbbing ever intensifying lure of brief encounter re_Engage, the album swiftly consumes ears and thoughts with its title track. From behind an initial sample, repeated throughout, Machines of Our Disgrace looms, advancing with rapacious intent before launching its metallic riffs and wiry guitars grooves. Electronic provocation unites with this predacious embrace, senses and imagination infested and pleasured by the predacious tapestry as Klayton’s tones prowl with harmonic enterprise and invasive potency.

It is an exceptional full start sparking body and emotion and backed just as powerfully by next up Contagion. Living up to its name, the track soon surrounds ears with a treacle like melodic tempting, subsequently beginning a relentlessly catchy enticement with just a whiff of Ministry to it, that evolving into a more Dope/Society One like trespass as Klayton’s vocals prowl and question while the song reveals its full repertoire of creative stimulation.

There is no relinquishing of imagination and appetite with Embracing Entropy next. Featuring Celldweller, i.e. the combining of Klayton’s two unique creative sides, the track pulsates with intrusive drama and invasive energy. As across the whole of the release, samples are skilfully and evocatively used whilst sounds feverishly bubble, igniting senses and thoughts in turn. From blisteringly agitated to melodically seductive, the song is a theatre of sound and texture, inescapably persuasive and hungrily addictive.

Just as powerful is the ferocious presence of Humanarchy, the track a ravenous threat of metallic and vocal rabidity locked in allegiance with a just as imposing electronic swing while after the warning of Signal, the following alt_Human uncages a sonic tempest as enjoyably challenging as its lyrical examination of science and morality. Fuelled by rapacious infectiousness, the song easily infests body and imagination with a swift and almost prurient craving.

Hive Mind is a simmering, bordering on predatory croon tempting ears like a blend of synth pop era Ministry, Ghost In The Static, and Nine Inch Nails while straight after Outside In and Neurachem serenade and growl respectively. The first of the pair is an absorbing melodic embrace, almost warm in its touch, whilst its successor is an irritable and fiercely captivating trespass binding ears with metallic and introspective melodic seducing, both adding further pinnacles to the lofty heights of the release.

A sonic kaleidoscope evocatively devours ears next with k_OS, samples narrating its dramatic landscape before Neophyte bubbles and bursts in electronic espionage for another irresistible, contagion loaded adventure for the imagination to lose itself in.

The album closes with Malacandra, a brooding fog of sound and atmospheric suggestion haunting ears and thoughts alike across its instrumental soundscape. It is an edgy and emotionally charged piece of noir lit evocation bringing a superb adventure to a powerful and magnetic close.

Even though Celldweller has forged pleasure and lust in ears and imagination, Circle of Dust has been missed, its distinct industrial presence an absence never filled until now with the exceptional Machines of Our Disgrace where Klayton swiftly suggests he is ready to push genre boundaries once again.

Machines of Our Disgrace is out now via FiXT across most online stores and @ https://circleofdust.bandcamp.com/album/machines-of-our-disgrace-2 or http://fixtstore.com/circleofdust