Higher
Circles is a Californian band, formed in 1983, with Norman Windrose
(guitars, vocals), Steve Moore (guitar, keyboards) and Ken Geer (drums).
Mainly inspired by bands like Marillion, Yes, Genesis and others, they
played covers of Rush and Pink Floyd. Little by little they started to play
their own music, but they had lack of success, even after the release of
their only studio album, the EP 'The Payment' of 1990. Finally,
after all those years they released their first full cd 'Ritual One'. And
despite the fact there are definitely influences from above mentioned bands,
(especially Marillion and Rush) Higher Circles has managed to create an
original and innovative cd, unlike many clones of progressive bands of the
seventies. An excellent debut (!) with dynamic powerful progressive rock,
backed up by well thought lyrics and a splendid production. In fact Higher
Circles has released the cd, that Rush should have made in 2002 instead of
the deceiving Vapour Trails. But that's another story! The
first track on the album 'Premonition' shows exactly what it's all about: a
soft introduction with synthesisers, alternated with special effects.
'Introvert' is a short instrumental track with hard guitars. 'Some
empty heaven' is entirely in the vein of the early years of Rush, but
certain fragments also remind me of the 'heavy sound' of Atomic Rooster. I
am aware of the fact that I am perhaps the only one who feels that way, but
anyway the track contains a lot of interesting patterns. 'Blur' starts more
in the style of the quiet work of Marillion, but explodes in the middle of
the song in heavy dynamic guitar rock. 'Second Thought' and "Eleven
Seconds' again are influenced by Rush in times of Permanent Waves, but
Higher Circles manages to add their personal touch. Especially
'Eleven Seconds' sounds very powerful with dazzling guitar solos, perhaps
the vocals should have been more on the foreground. But
the best (and also the most progressive) part of the album is still to come.
Abstrusus is a dreamy track, where once again the softer (symphonic)
fragments are alternated with harder (more metal) fragments. And the metal
touch continues in the instrumental 'A really weird rest', where influences
can be heard of Marillion, Genesis but also of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and
other heavy groups of the seventies. The music is certainly harder than
Rush, especially in the guitar riffs. The
strange and perhaps unnecessary short acapella-track Patch brings us to the
epic part of the album. 'Stigmata' begins as a soft rock song (Rolling
Stones?) but then gradually changes in complex and doomy musical structures.
Immediately after this you can hear the heavy guitar riffs of 'Samurai with
a gun', with once again the integration of progressive sounds à la Flower
Kings. And
the album ends where it has started : dreamy 'ambient' music that should
have lasted a bit longer. The music of Higher Circles is certainly not pure progressive metal, but can be described as 'heavy progressive'. Hopefully the guys of Higher Circles won't wait another twenty years to release their next album, because this tastes for more! Reviewed by : Claude 'Clayreon' Bosschem |
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