Station

For those who celebrated the intricate heaviness of Russian Circles' debut album, Enter, or better yet saw them devastate live audiences with the sheer metallic roar of it all, Station may seem a little underwhelming -- at first. Brian Cook of Botch/These Arms Are Snakes has replaced bassist Colin DeKuiper (on record at least). That said, one should expect a wall of sonic attack that would make the gods cower, right? Not exactly. Texture and dimension have become a big part of Russian Circles sound on this seven- track album. They've tried to get themselves out of the post-rock "build up and up and up and finally explode" equation that has actually hampered the growth of the music. They haven't left metal behind, but have tempered it somewhat with some softer sounds, a more gradual expansion, and layered textures on any given theme, or some set thereof. About half the album relies on this technique, and admittedly, it can be a bit frustrating on first listen because there are so many parts folded into one another it simply isn't as obvious as Enter was. Mike Sullivan's guitar playing relies as much on fingerpicked swells that shimmer and refract as it does power chugging riffs. Dave Turncrantz's drums won't announce the shifts and twists and turns, either. He jumps in with the rest of the band, playing to the sense of drama and tension that get spread beautifully over the dimensions of space and power, framed perfectly by producer-engineer Matt Bayles. "Harper Lewis" takes the ominous heaviness that Russian Circles are known for, pours paranoid ambient sonics around the drum kit, and allows Cook to let that low end bass just throb wide open, until Sullivan just crushes the entire thing with his wall of squall stun riffing. It takes a little while to develop, but the payload is big. This is also true to a greater degree on the title track. Back and forth guitar and bass thrumming becomes a push and pull between the two players until only the thudding drum fills can breach the gap. It becomes almost unbearably tense even as the tonal and time signatures shift. The same kind of metal effect takes place in "Youngblood." Think of the menacing guitar intros of vintage Iron Maiden or Judas Priest paired with the sense of distortion, detuned feedback, and the noir transcendence of Isis or Pelican. The softer tunes, such as "Verses" and "Xavi," are really compelling puzzle pieces loaded with tricky corners, intricate spaces, and floating guitar and bass parts that open the door of power rock infinity but stop at the threshold. The bottom line is that this diversity is not a lack of focus, but growth and development that make the band stand out from the pack, making the effort to spin this a few times yield very big rewards.

几乎所有人都没有臂章、肩章，这不符合任何一国军装的特征。综上：这肯定不是军人的照片。很大可能只是后摇乐队为了拍封面做的造型，那几个臂章、帽子上帽徽的图案都是自由设计的。其中一人胸前有勋章，大概是个人特意为拍照借来或私人经历拥有的。

关于封面：帽子很像德军二战时期的40式便帽。但封面的帽子上没有军徽。下排有几人左臂上有圆形三色条纹臂章，中间白色，上条颜色比下条稍浅……比较像法国的红白蓝三色国旗，然而没有哪个国家的军队臂章是直接用本国国旗的，就算是国旗配色上面也会加上体现兵种的图案。

大家都下意识地倾向于接受有话题性的故事或者答案啊，却不求证甚至抗拒他人的求证。我又何必。是我错了

我发现了村上春树大叔.....

你们这些人 不要去猜封面含义 乐队本身也不知道含义 现代艺术大体上是情绪表达 能射就好

忘了是多久以前这张专辑的封面会变颜色，现在不会了