Yet another Tuesday brings yet another signing announcement from Metal Assault Records HQ. The label is pleased to add to its roster an international synth doom collective that is sure to mesmerize one and all.
A few months after featuring on the January 2020 Metal Assault Mixtape Vol. 2 compilation release with their apocalyptic doom opus “Burden of the Flesh” and their first public live performance at the corresponding mixtape release event, CIRCLE OF SIGHS released their stunning debut full-length Salo, which rightfully made its way onto Metal Assault editor’s 2020 albums-of-the-year listicle. Now, Metal Assault Records is delighted to welcome CoS to its own label roster.
MAR will release the second CoS full-length, Narci, on June 4 2021 on limited-edition colored vinyl, digipack CD, and digital download. Pre-orders for the vinyl + digital download will be launched on March 5 on circleofsighs.bandcamp.com. More details surrounding the vinyl, i.e. colors, packaging, etc will be unveiled soon. To coincide with the pre-order launch, the album’s lead single “Heaven in Flames” will also be revealed on the same date.
With great pleasure, MAR is hereby revealing the incredibly vivid artwork that makes the Narci album cover, hand-painted by Nicole Momaney:
Narci
Final Sequence:
SIDE A
01 – Spectral Arms 10:03
02 – We Need Legends 6:06
03 – A Crystal Crown of Cosmic Pain 5:14
Total 21:23
SIDE B
04 – Roses Blue 5:30
05 – Segue 04 0:49
06 – Narci 5:28
07 – Heaven in Flames 5:01
08 – The Man Who Stole the Wind 5:08
Total 21:56
Narci was mixed and mastered by Katie Gilchrest (High Priestess).
MORE ABOUT CIRCLE OF SIGHS AND NARCI:
Occult-themed synth-doom collective Circle of Sighs comes wrapped in a veil of mystery. Their anonymity is by design. In our epoch of hyperinformation and oversharing, the group prefers to let the music take the forefront. Thus, dear reader, you will not be getting soundbites or personal anecdotes. All we can offer is some vital information and a bit of history.
Their work began in 2018. Rough demo recordings were shaped and hewn by these clandestine shamans and cosmonauts on their sub-rosa mission to merge the celestial and the terrestrial. The group made its presence publicly known vis-a-vis the sold-out Metal Assault Mixtape Volume 2, released in January of 2020 by Metal Assault Records. Their contribution to the limited-release cassette, ‘Burden of the Flesh’ — with its pulsing synths, pummeling riffs, and lush vocal harmonies — introduced a sound that demanded further attention.
That demand was met five months later when Circle of Sighs released Salo, their debut full-length, via the band’s own Pillars of Creation label. The nine-song opus was an album of existential heaviness that pitted synthesis against nature: Digital beats, downtuned riffs, harsh keyboards, and warm tube amps. Their genre-bending and -blending dredged the uncanny valley to cull a sound both strange and familiar. As evidence, look no further than the lead-off single, ‘The Man Machine.’ Their dystopian spin on the Kraftwerk classic paired trudging doom riffs with ambient synths and vocoder harmonies, captured in a video that recalls the after-hours programming of mid-1980s MTV.
Salo was well-received by the doom metal blogosphere, garnering unanimously enthusiastic reviews. However an unexpected pandemic (COVID-19, perhaps you’ve heard of it) made touring impossible. So Circle of Sighs convened back at their secret lair to write and record new material. After a handful of standalone singles released straight to Bandcamp — including an atmospheric cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Roses Blue” — CoS arrived upon Narci, a quasi-concept album about an eschatoligcal event caused by a digitally communicable mental disease. While still rooted in cosmic doom, here we find the group travelling further to the outer reaches of metal’s avant garde. Glitch-pop, prog rock, dark jazz, industrial gaze, and grindcore influences bubble to the top, all buoyed by the sing-along melodies and rich vocal harmonies. With Narci, Circle of Sighs solidifies itself as a group that defies categorization, bridges dichotomies and summons new worlds.
For fans of: Yob, Tubeway Army, Pallbearer, King Crimson, Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby, Brian Eno, Neurosis
Circle Of Sighs links: facebook | instagram | bandcamp
