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Magic Circle Premiere “The Damned Man” from Journey Blind

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on November 10th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

magic circle (Photo by Dakota Gordon)

Boston doomers Magic Circle release their second album, Journey Blind, Nov. 20 on 20 Buck Spin. A dual-guitar five-piece, the band was a force to be reckoned with even before the release of their 2013 self-titled debut (review here), having garnered a formidable response to their initial single, Scream Evil/Lighting Her Fire, both online and in the physical realm with a 7″. The self-titled was light on frills but heavy on dark atmospherics and weighted riffing, and Journey Blind‘s seven tracks/45 minutes follow suit in that regard, but add stylistic nuance in the form of a decided lean toward ’80s-era NWOBHM metallurgy, taking cues on the opening title-track from Judas Priest fist-pumping chug in the guitars of Chris Corry and Dan Ducas, unconcerned with genre boundaries as it motors forward on a groove thickened by Justin DeTore‘s bass and propelled by the drumming of Q, topped off with classically soaring vocals from Brendan Radigan.

Their take on the sound is righteous and unabashed, and while Journey Blind is unmistakably different from what they were doing on Magic Circle, it makes sense as a next step. “Journey Blind” is both the opener and the longest track (immediate points) at 8:26, and does much work in setting the tone for what follows, but though it’s shorter, “The Damned Man” takes hold with pre-thrash intensity and vocal layering in its hook on the way to a surprising slowdown and build-up, a breakdown riff stomped out at around four minutes in that becomes the bed for soloing and a final verse before ending — wait for it — acoustic.

How any of that makes any fucking sense whatsoever, I haven’t the foggiest, but it does. In context, the acoustic finish of “The Damned Man” is as much intro for “A Ballad for the Vultures” as it is its own outro, but as a standalone it shows how willing Magic Circle are to bend the rules of verse-chorus to suit their whims, and that they can do it and not have a track fall apart. They’re due for a doom-out, and “A Ballad for the Vultures” delivers one in its first half, still tinged with Iron Maiden-style grandiosity and Dio-style poise, a midsection break serving as transition to a faster, more swinging movement of furious guitars and an magic circle journey blindongoing sense of build until its unbridled conclusion. They even slow down in there, but by the end, they’re at their most raging.

The subsequent “Lightning Cage” is maybe more ’70s than ’80s in its central riff early on, but the difference works out to be trivial with as much effort as Magic Circle put into making it their own. A meatier nod emerges in an extended bridge, but again, they end fast, reveling in the play of one tempo off another in a centerpiece track that’s the shortest inclusion at 4:19 but a standout moment all the same for its efficiency and the energy of its delivery. Already to this point, Magic Circle have galloped and stomped, they’ve howled and marauded, and they’ve torn into classic metal without giving up the atmospheric heft of their debut. More than a little impressive. They’ve grown — quickly — and remained cohesive working through a variety of structures. The final three songs of Journey Blind, which may or may not be side B, depending on where the vinyl puts “Lightning Cage,” present another turn, this time into more Sabbathian territory.

A doom band sounding like Sabbath? Not exactly news, but across “Ghosts of the Southern Front,” “Grand Deceivers” and the closing “Antediluvian,” Magic Circle seem to be on a campaign to redeem Tony Iommi‘s work post-Ian Gillan, and they make a convincing argument, whether it’s the steady pacing of “Ghosts of the Southern Front” or the highlight bass work DeTore brings to “Antediluvian.” And since this era of the genre progenitors coincides with the NWOBHM coming of age and even the birth of the thrash movement, it also makes sense in terms of the timeline in which Magic Circle are working throughout that they’d dip into such an influence.

The final three songs are almost an album unto themselves, but the straight-backed posture of “Grand Deceivers,” the chug and chorus of “Ghosts of the Southern Front” and the speedier takeoff that closes out “Antediluvian”‘s even-earlier Sabbathism mesh with Journey Blind‘s first four cuts in a way that maintains the flow of the record front to back. A considerable momentum is built across Journey Blind‘s span that makes it a quick listen, but the substance that Magic Circle put on offer isn’t to be discounted. Their second full-length outing goes beyond simply being a follow-up and pushes them into new stylistic ground that they conquer with boldness and confidence.

I have the pleasure today of hosting “The Damned Man” as a track premiere. Find it below, followed by more on the album, and please enjoy:

20 Buck Spin will round out its roster for 2015 with the release of Journey Blind, the triumphant sophomore LP from Boston-based quintet MAGIC CIRCLE. This year has already been the most productive and expansive year for the label, but Journey Blind will fit into your parents’ unwavering classic rock collection the same as it could be the hottest thing on your younger cousin’s latest playlist.

Following their self-titled debut which was well-received in metal and hardcore circles, MAGIC CIRCLE returns with forty-five minutes of dominant, pure heavy metal on Journey Blind, a record which sees the outfit doing what they do, but doing it even better. Self-produced and recorded by the band at guitarist CC’s The Pain Cave, the record surges with the viscosity a team of top-tier producers would be proud to back.

The cover art for Journey Blind is an unused piece dating to 1979 by legendary artist Joe Petagno (Motorhead, Mammoth Grinder, Autopsy) which has been properly fitted to this modern ripper which could have been captured three decades ago yet booms with a refreshed spirit to guide today’s misguided youth back to their unbeknownst roots. Devotees to the scriptures immotalized by 1980s Black Sabbath, 1980s Trouble, Pagan Altar, Saint Vitus and the like should not pass this one by.

20 Buck Spin will make MAGIC CIRCLE’s Journey Blind a reality on November 20th in CD and digital formats, with the vinyl to follow in mid-December or whenever the pressing plants can get their shit together.

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Magic Circle Sign to 20 Buck Spin; Journey Blind Due Nov. 20

Posted in Whathaveyou on September 21st, 2015 by JJ Koczan

Details were pretty minimal last month when Boston doomers Magic Circle posted two tracks from their forthcoming second record, Journey Blind, on YouTube in much the same spirit as how they released their first single in 2012. If you click that link, you’ll see that “Lightning Cage” and “Grand Deceivers” have both been taken down, so if you caught them while they were out, kudos on having a leg up. At the time, I wasn’t sure if Journey Blind would be released through Armageddon Shop, which put out the band’s 2013 self-titled debut (review here), but today we get the answer with the announcement that 20 Buck Spin will release the album — perfect for the increasing darkness of late Fall — on Nov. 20.

The artwork seems to have been pulled as well, but it’ll be back soon enough. I’ve been curious as to what Magic Circle might due to follow-up the first outing, if they’ll work in the same kind of bleak atmosphere, expand on it or turn to something else, so if the details below are a step in the direction of finding that out — and they are — then even better.

Dig in:

Magic Circle (Photo by Dakota Gordon)

MAGIC CIRCLE: Boston Quintet Joins 20 Buck Spin Cult For Release Of Triumphant Journey Blind Sophomore LP

20 Buck Spin will round out its roster for 2015 with the release of Journey Blind, the triumphant sophomore LP from Boston-based quintet MAGIC CIRCLE. This year has already been the most productive and expansive year for the label, but Journey Blind will fit into your parents’ unwavering classic rock collection the same as it could be the hottest thing on your younger cousin’s latest playlist.

Who said anything about running out of ideas? The stubborn ones were born to linger, to nose out newer, more subtle permutations with the help from a few ragged fucks willing to practice them. The MAGIC CIRCLE mutts roll in heavy metal whatness, striking a balance with the pituitary culture it begat, and the tunes it jacked out. Suburban drag races. Basement bum wine scrum. Every collective thought burnt into a dirty tape dub of Mob Rules. Sabbath, especially in its later incarnations, hulks ephemerally among all openings, rests, and codas. When Chris Corry and Dan Ducas’ guitars aren’t jelly-legging around Iommi, they’re rekindling “Neon Knights,” brandishing “Die Young” credo. Meanwhile, Q clubs the kit like a drunken Cozy Powell. Brendan Radigan stakes big, black flag in vocal territory long occupied by Saint Vitus, Saxon, Armored Saint, and Trouble. Bassist Justin DeTore alternates creepy crawl and thunder word belch, laying yoke over each tune and driving them prejudicially underground.

But motherfuck simply “sounding” like these bands. MAGIC CIRCLE celebrates them, and in doing so honors the form they have found. It’s HEAVY METAL. Hit hard. Write riffs that clack along like rustbucket tanks into perpetuity. “Play” bass in ways that make you at once inseparable from every punch the drummer lands, and also ghosts every riff — working beneath, between, behind the rhythm. Sing that fucking story as every ancient did their Homer. It means something. It stands for something. Bring that to the tape.

And so MAGIC CIRCLE does. Tunes are rude, vicious. Some lumber ominously along, bare-fisting the downbeat through riffs raised from basements held in the odors of stale beer, mold, and want. Others stuff the song’s shape with directional changes — tipping a cap to Trouble and Saint Vitus via Sabbath. All the dots are easily connected. There’s no sport there. But, in lieu of refinement, we get an honest reckoning: MAGIC CIRCLE is a band (quickly) becoming. Through the web of influence and itchy, artistic compulsion they’ve found savage and ultimately promising ways of reanimating long since taxidermied forms.

Following their self-titled debut which was well-received in metal and hardcore circles, MAGIC CIRCLE returns with forty-five minutes of dominant, pure heavy metal on Journey Blind, a record which sees the outfit doing what they do, but doing it even better. Self-produced and recorded by the band at guitarist CC’s The Pain Cave, the record surges with the viscosity a team of top-tier producers would be proud to back.

The cover art for Journey Blind is an unused piece dating to 1979 by legendary artist Joe Petagno (Motorhead, Mammoth Grinder, Autopsy) which has been properly fitted to this modern ripper which could have been captured three decades ago yet booms with a refreshed spirit to guide today’s misguided youth back to their unbeknownst roots. Devotees to the scriptures immotalized by 1980s Black Sabbath, 1980s Trouble, Pagan Altar, Saint Vitus and the like should not pass this one by.

20 Buck Spin will make MAGIC CIRCLE’s Journey Blind a reality on November 20th in CD and digital formats, with the vinyl to follow in mid-December or whenever the pressing plants can get their shit together.

Having successfully toured with metal lifers Satan (the band, not the deity) in 2014 and more, MAGIC CIRCLE will be raging the stage surrounding the release of Journey Blind, so stand by for handcrafted flyers announcing stages to soon be smoldered to be tacked up on grimy bathroom walls in your local venue in the months ahead.

Journey Blind Track Listing:
1. Journey Blind
2. The Damned Man
3. A Ballad For The Vultures
4. Lightning Cage
5. Ghosts Of The Southern Front
6. Grand Deceivers
7. Antediluvian

Audio samples of Journey Blind, review copies of the album and more are in store. Get ready to rock steady.

http://www.magiccircleheavymetal.com
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Magic Circle, Live at the Whiskey a Go Go, Oct. 24, 2014

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Magic Circle Post Two Songs off Journey Blind LP

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 5th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

If it seems strange that a band like Magic Circle might just post two new tracks on YouTube, make a post about it on their website and leave it at that, minimal promotion, let-those-who-find-it-find-it kind of thing, you’re probably not that familiar with the band. No worries. That’s how the Boston five-piece got their start. The songs from their first single, “Scream Evil” and “Lighting Her Fire” made their primary impact through YouTube link spreading — essentially word-of-mouth, but with more clicking and less actual language — and a lack of cloying social media promotion has been a hallmark of their approach since. Some news leaks out through their label, Armageddon Shop, but basically if you want to know what’s going on, if you’re going to find out, you’re going to do so from someone else or by regularly checking their website.

Fair enough. Doing so yesterday or today brings two new songs — “Lightning Cage” and “Grand Deceivers” — as well as the Joe Petagno artwork from their forthcoming sophomore album, Journey Blind, which is the follow-up to their 2013 self-titled debut (review here). I had caught “Lightning Cage” earlier this year when I saw them in Providence, but “Grand Deceivers” is all new, and both only make me look forward to hearing more. Which, of course is the whole idea.

When the album might be out, if it’s coming through Armageddon Shop and any other details have yet to be revealed, if they’re going to be revealed at all, but we’ve got the music, and if you cut to the heart of it, that’s what matters.

Have at you:

MAGIC CIRCLE JOURNEY BLIND

Two New Songs

In anticipation of our new LP, we’d like to share two brand new tracks. Details on the release will soon follow.

Lightning Cage & Grand Deceivers – from the forthcoming “Journey Blind” lp.
Recorded winter/spring 2015 by the band; mastered by Carl Saff.
Art by Joe Petagno – used w/ permission.

magiccircleheavymetal.com

Magic Circle, “Lightning Cage”

Magic Circle, “Grand Deceivers”

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