Review THE CIRCLE ‘Of Awakening’

German metal force The Circle is a rather new band. With a foundation in 2020 it’s the third year of The Circle and after having released a debut called ‘Metamorphis’ in 2021 it is the sophomore album ‘Of Awakening’ which will take blackened heart of metalheads by storm.

With 33 minutes of running time, the album doesn’t belong to the lengthy ones. Instead, The Circle unloads the blackened soul in five songs that are all beyond the five-minutes line. One exception though. ‘Afflux’ doesn’t need more than four minutes to unveil the blackened beauty. Grief and darkness, that is what ‘Afflux’ spreads and since the half of the song is calmer, ‘Afflux’ entails a great counterpart to the mighty second half of this metal beast.

Photo: Anne C. Swallow

Egoism, self-hatred and devastation, these are the driving states of a human soul, framed into symphonic black metal songs that find a way straight to heart.

The Circle is also not shy of some melodic and clean vocals, woven into songs like the thundering ‘Reign of the Black Sun’.

The smashing start of ‘Ashes and Fading Tides’ heralds the final chapter of this interesting new album. The Circle made a step forward and manifest on ‘Of Awakening’ a potential, that allows them to cement their position in the German black metal community. Gloomy soundscapes and heavy riffs, together with a very dense sound is what will captivate fans of the band and metalheads that might have missed the self-released debut album.