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DRAWING CIRCLES

Textures

Tech/Extreme Prog Metal


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Textures Drawing Circles album cover
3.81 | 58 ratings | 6 reviews | 29% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2006

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Drive (2:26)
2. Regenesis (4:57)
3. Denying Gravity (5:15)
4. Illumination (1:56)
5. Stream of Consciousness (6:48)
6. Upwards (6:06)
7. Circular (5:13)
8. Millstone (3:42)
9. Touching the Absolute (8:07)
10. Surreal State of Enlightenment (3:49)

Total Time: 44:11

Line-up / Musicians

- Jochem Jacobs / guitars, vocals
- Stef Broks / drums
- Richard Reitdijk / synthesizers
- Dennis Aarts / bass
- Bart Hennephof / guitars
- Eric Kalsbeek / vocals

Releases information

CD Listenable Records #84 (2006)

Thanks to TheProgtologist for the addition
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TEXTURES Drawing Circles ratings distribution


3.81
(58 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(29%)
29%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(34%)
34%
Good, but non-essential (26%)
26%
Collectors/fans only (10%)
10%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

TEXTURES Drawing Circles reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by UMUR
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars "Drawing Circles" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Dutch progressive/technical extreme metal act Textures. The album was released through Listenable Records in April 2006.

The music on the album is technical and progressive metal with pre-dominantly aggressive vocals. There are clean vocals too though and they are very strong IMO. The songs are rather complex with multible time signature changes and different sections but the music features a melodic foundation that makes it quite accessible anyway. The riffs are sharp and edgy but there are melodic sections and some great soloing in the music too which is great for the variation. The album is very consistent and all songs are of a high compositional quality.

The musicianship is one of the greatest assets in Textures music. These are highly skilled musicians and lead singer Eric Kalsbeek has a powerful aggressive vocal style but his clean vocals are also quite impressive.

The production is clean and maybe a bit too polished at times, but itīs a suiting sound for the music on this album. "Drawing Circles" is a very recommendable album if you enjoy progressive/technical extreme metal in the vein of Meshuggah and Gojira. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Review by horsewithteeth11
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Unlike Textures' debut "Polars", this was an album I could get into almost immediately. I almost wish I had started here with their music, because I think I would have adjusted to "Polars" much more quickly. As soon as I heard the opening song, "Drive", kick into gear I knew this was going to be a roller coaster ride of an album and a big improvement on their previous effort.

The music is once again highly technical metal with a mix of crunchy, heavy riffs and melodic passages. The two big changes are in the synths and vocals however. The synths are much more frequent and are actually incorporated to make them important parts of the songs, rather than bursts of beauty every now and then. This album also has a new vocalist in Eric Kalsbeek. His vocal style is a departure from that of Pieter Verpaalen, who as I mentioned in my review of "Polars" sounded like a mix of death metal and hardcore punk vocals. Eric on the other hand sounds more like a death metal vocalist with a touch of metalcore/deathcore. His vocal style is one that I am more adjusted to and thus was not an acquired taste. He also utilizes lots of clean vocals which are very well done and they add a new aspect to the music. It allows the band to explore new ideas which I enjoy immensely.

In all this is a significant improvement on the part of Textures. The growth between this album and their debut is a major step towards them cementing themselves as major players in the modern tech/extreme metal scene. I can give this album 4 stars pretty easily.

Review by Conor Fynes
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars 'Drawing Circles' - Textures (8/10)

When I was first introduced to the Dutch progressive metal act Textures, I sadly initially dismissed them as being an excellent and higher echelon Meshuggah clone, but still just that; a clone. Granted, Meshuggah has clearly had a large influence on this band as well as the entire budding 'djent' style, but as even a few minutes diving into the band's second record 'Drawing Circles' can go to suggest, there is much more to this band than I may have first given them credit for. Beautifully merging heaviness and lighter beauty, as well as strong songwriting chops and performances all across the board, Textures really sets out to impress with this prog metal opus. 'Drawing Circles' fires on all cylinders and pulls out virtually every trick in the book, and were it even a little more profound as an artistic statement, Textures may very well have boosted themselves up to the level of being masters even only with their second record.

As the opener 'Drive' starts off, 'Drawing Circles' is brought first into the fray of Textures' heavy side, before touching on any lighter elements they have to offer. Had a listener only listened to this track, they may have very well been lead to believe that the band was merely another in a legion of djent cookie cut bands, but and while the second track 'Regenesis' may follow down this route, it changes halfway into something incredibly melodic, driven by a highly expressive clean vocalist. It should also been known that should someone not be looking at the track times, it is very well possible no even to notice that a new 'song' is being played, due to the fact that Textures cleverly meshed every composition here into one running stream of music. With that in mind, there is rarely a rest from some sort of action.

Throughout the rest of this musical journey, it becomes even more clear just how dynamic and varied the sound of Textures can be; going from some moments of great aggression to even a few optimistic and peaceful passages as are heard best in 'Upwards'. The apparent enclosed mini-epic 'Touching The Absolute' shows Textures delving into some incredible jazz fusion. The entire album is bound together by the band's metal sound though, which is not completely original, but manages to get just enough of a unique spin on it to stand alone. The sound here sports some of the best production you are bound to find in metal of its kind, and the convincing direction the band takes here is only helped by their great playing abilities, which really hit hard and never pull their punches. Although evidently masterful at playing cohesively together, the lack of any particular standout moments or tracks does seem to rob the album of the same dedication that a masterpiece warrants, even if the band may have been very close with it here.

Throughout all of this quality, Textures still does not feel as if they met their potential as a playing unit. A surprisingly cohesive suite of modern metal that swerves seamlessly between anthemic melodic and gritty metalcore moments, 'Drawing Circles' comes highly recommended, even from someone that may not have had the greatest first impression of them.

Review by b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Textures is one of the pleasent albums I've heared from technical progressive metal this year, even is released way back in 2006, Drawing circles is the second offer of this intresting dutch band. I like a lot the instrumental section, very solid, tight and full of energy but I'm not so keen about the vocals. The instrumental sections are very well performed,competent musicians, each one know to handle the instruments, very good drumer btw, some very intresting chops, a perfect example are the opening track , Regenesis or Stream of Consciousness , hevy parts technical most of the time with clear influence from bands like Gojira or the mighty Meshuggah. The vocal department is not my cup of tea , really is to much towards hard core kind of aproach, is not clean is not growl is something in between, a thing that I'm not so attached. Also Textures can play and compose aswell intresting technical metal/fusion music like on Touching the Absolute, the musicianship is top notch. In the end a good album for sure, why I give only 3 stars, because I think the vocal parts ruin the Textures music overall, if were all instrumental then for sure it would be better and with higher rate from me. Good band with potential in this field that needs recognition , wider then they had today.

Latest members reviews

3 stars The latest effort from Textures is a bit different from Polars- a great debut album from the Dutch "math metal" band. The vocals are different- this time we see more of a deep scream- almost like a mix between Pantera and Meshuggah. The music is still very hard hitting- with a nice mix of atmo ... (read more)

Report this review (#107469) | Posted by Drew | Sunday, January 14, 2007 | Review Permanlink

5 stars At first I didn't like Textures that much, I had just heard a few songs. But when I heard this album it all made more sense to me, it isn't just mindless headbanging music, but there are really atmospheric parts too, or technical parts. This band is very rhythmically advanced, but not in a way th ... (read more)

Report this review (#106512) | Posted by Shredaholic | Monday, January 8, 2007 | Review Permanlink

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