by Keith Carman

Many years in the making, Our Circle Is Vicious finds European hardcore outfit Rise & Fall becoming more experimental and dynamic in approach. While this proves to be interesting and they occasionally slip into some straightforward, guttural attacks exemplified on tracks such as “It’s A Long Way Down,” for the most-part, these 10 endeavours are almost too cerebral to be instinctively compelling. A solid effort is put forth with thick guitars, crashing drums and searing vocals yet the band’s almost overtly-technical approach to what was once a pretty uncomplicated style is a head-scratcher. It seems as if they’ve started to turn into something a bit more metalcore/The Haunted than one would expect yet to each their own. Overall, Our Circle Is Vicious is an amusing if not altogether convincing move; decidedly slower than it seems it should be and while that ensures faster tunes blind-side, it also means enduring some plodding, almost boring songs at the same time.

(Deathwish Inc)

Rating: 6.5