Powerful instru-metallists Russian Circles are back to hypnotize headbangers with a ninth full-length, appropriately dubbed Nine. To celebrate the announcement, the trio have delivered a damned heavy taste of things to come via first single “Empath.”
The track begins with guitar noise humming in and out of focus like a clutch of bagpipes being forced through a space-and-time-bending black hole, plus the sound of Brian Cook’s corrosive-to-the-touch bass fuzz. The full band lunge into blackened, deviously-trilled doom before bringing things to a cacophonously power-swung mid-song subterranea — the latter moment described in a press release as “a deliciously knuckleheaded hardcore breakdown.”
A black-and-white, super high-contrast music video from director Madeline Hampton presents what looks like a garden-hose blast of water slow-mo trickling through the air like liquid mercury, someone’s bikini stroll through the desert and an exploding power grid. You can peep the artsy extremity of it all up above.
As for Nine, the album is said to feature “seven seismic tracks [that] act as long-form oriented soundtracks to the trials and tragedies of life in the modern age.” While its members are no longer all living in Chicago, Illinois — drummer Dave Turncrantz is in the Windy City, while Cook is out in Vashon Island, Washington, and guitarist Mike Sullivan is out in Los Angeles, California — they came together to crush out another instrumental LP and continue their friendship.
“The music we make is a collective process of reconciliation, navigation, and reflection upon aging both as individuals and as a creative entity,” they added in joint statement. “Life has created very real distances between us, but the band continues to be at the center, and this creative collaboration is a way of charting the passage of time while also giving us a reason to look to the future.”
The band recorded with engineer and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou at the Electrical Audio facility in Chicago, Illinois, and Ballou’s own GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts. It’s Russian Circles’ fourth album to be produced with Ballou, following 2016’s Guidance, 2019’s Blood Year and 2022’s Gnosis.
Nine is out August 28th via Sargent House. That’d be the cover art and tracklisting down below. Pre-orders for the album on either “Eco Graphite” vinyl or standard black wax can be found in Revolver‘s shop.
Russian Circles have also announced a slate of concerts to support the impending LP, which feature support from post-metal mainstays Pelican and doom-bringers Primitive Man on select dates. That info is likewise below.
Nine tracklisting:
Borehole
Empath
Eluvial
E2
Meridian
Arletta
Seventh Seal
Russian Circle North American tour dates 2026:
9/25 Whitefish Bay, WI – The Argo *
9/26 Chicago, IL – Bohemian National Cemetery *
9/28 Detroit, MI – El Club *
9/29 Toronto, ON – The Opera House *
9/30 Montreal, QC – Club Soda *
10/1 Boston, MA – Royale *
10/3 Queens, NY – Knockdown Center *
10/4 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer *
10/5 Baltimore, MD – Soundstage *
10/7 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle *
10/8 Charleston, SC – The Music Farm *
10/9 Orlando, FL – The Beacham Theater *
10/10 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse *
10/12 Nashville, TN – The Basement East *
10/13 Indianapolis, IN – The Hi-Fi *
11/4 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall $
11/6 Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves $
11/7 Austin, TX – The Far Out Lounge $
11/9 Phoenix, AZ – Walter Studios $
11/11 Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco $
11/12 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall $
11/14 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom $
11/15 Seattle, WA – The Showbox $
11/16 Boise, ID – Treefort Music Hall $
11/17 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall $
11/19 Englewood, CO – The Gothic Theatre $
11/20 Omaha, NE – Slowdown $
11/21 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater $
* with Pelican
$ with Primitive Man