Circles – The Last One album review

Artful Australians Circles attempt to bend tech metal into a new shape with The Last One

Circles The Last One

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

The Last One

Circles The Last One cover

1. Winter
2. Breaker
3. The Messenger
4. Arrival
5. Tether
6. Resolution
7. Dream Sequence
8. Renegade
9. Blueprints For A Great Escape
10. Alone With Ghosts

Buy from Amazon

Another formidable band from Down Under suggests there’s something in the water down there besides great whites. With this only being their second album since their 2010 formation, Circles clearly spend a great deal of time and thought crafting their music. 

Though the djent hallmarks of juddering staccato riffs on Dream Sequence and complicated meanders are all present and correct, there’s enormous breadth here, whether it’s the groove and crunch of opener Winter or the dreamy soundscapes and glorious leads of Renegade and The Messenger

So while you can get lost in the layers and crescendos that build up throughout The Last One, there are also distinct highlights that leap out, ably helped by the cracking pipes of Ben Rechter on the urgent Breaker, the immediate chorus and infectious patterns of Arrival and the dramatic final salvo of Alone With Ghosts

Very much in a similar fashion to countrymen Karnivool, Circles have crafted a modern progressive tapestry with plenty of wider appeal thanks to songwriting nous coupled with their apparent technicality.

Adam Brennan

Rugby, Sean Bean and power ballad superfan Adam has been writing for Hammer since 2007, and has a bad habit of constructing sentences longer than most Dream Theater songs. Can usually be found cowering at the back of gigs in Bristol and Cardiff. Bruce Dickinson once called him a 'sad bastard'.