Circuit Circuit are one the most promising upcoming mathcore crossover artists right now. They first caught our eye with the release of their self-titled EP, featuring nonstop pummeling mathcore goodness. With their second release, Body Songs, will the band continue down their mathcore roots, or try to branch out into the nu?
The opening track “I Dream The World Awake” starts with a hypnotic looping guitar riff in the right ear, before the vocals jump in and the guitars drop out. The drummer taps his sticks, and the band explodes into a stop-and-start noisy riff. Glitchy while at the same time calling back to old times with riffs not dissimilar to those of Jane Doe by Converge or Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park smashed together.
"Slander Eats Slander" has the most nu metal influence of any track on this EP. The groovy guitars continue to mix nu metal and mathcore to create a danceable yet haunting track that ends with a build-up leading into the next track. Their single “Deleted Skin” features a choir of high-pitched squealing guitars and groovy sections throughout. It’s punishing yet danceable with a nasty breakdown later in the track that screams into the listener's ear – the vocalist pleads “STUCK IN MY HEAD/OF COURSE NOT/OF COURSE NOT.”
In "Blood In My Eye (Holy Human)," a repeating guitar riff overwhelms the listener as a horn squeals in the background. The vocalist launches into an exchange of screechy and low-pitched vocal styles before a breakdown groove hits, and the whole song switches up into a slow crunching riff. It's an overall disorienting track in the best way possible – good for fans of glitchier nu metal. The song slowly fades out as it perfectly transitions into the next track; “</null>.”
The ending track opens up with a slow, ominous bass riff as the guitars occasionally screech in the distance. Whispers haunt the listener before the guitars and vocals come out in an overwhelming screech of sound, the guitars looping and squealing as the vocalist bellows “HOW POINTLESS IS IT/THE END OF THIS WORLD WILL BE SOON”. An overwhelming, constant attack of sound that lasts 6 minutes. The song stops and starts, emphasizing the moments when the sonics continue to explode at the listener, ending with an abrupt cut-off, leaving the listener reeling from the attack.
In Body Songs, Circuit Circuit continue to prove themselves as a premier example of how to cross mathcore with nu metal. The heaviness is never sacrificed for the grooves, and the grooves never take priority over the ear-splitting screeching of the guitars. Varied vocal passages and shouted lyrics litter the tracks and call back to the powerful early years of nu metal, while the stops and starts of the guitar remind us of Jane Doe in more ways than one. Keep your eye on these guys, cause they've got more circuits in you're headphones to fry and more bodies to let hit the floor.
