Review: Circle Of Dust – 'Machines Of Our Disgrace'

CIRCLE OF DUST
'Machines Of Our Disgrace'
FIXT

After a 20 year hiatus Klayton, better known as Celldweller, has resurrected his 90s industrial metal band Circle Of Dust. While these days Klayton is inexorably linked to his work as Celldweller, which has led to an impressive back catalogue of releases over the years, there was always something unfinished about Circle Of Dust that led to him acquiring the rights to the previous releases and breathing new life into the old machine.

The result is the fifth Circle Of Dust album, 'Machines Of Our Disgrace', and it was worth the wait. With a further two decades of production experience siphoned through an unexpectedly heavy approach this is a very welcome move from Klayton. Evoking the likes of Static-X, gODHEAD, Fear Factory, and Love And Death in its execution it's heavy on the guitar riffs, thick with electronics and incredibly catchy.

Songs such as 'Maqchines Of Our Disgrace', 'Contagion', 'Embracing Entropy', 'Humanarchy', and 'Neophyte' provide a solid backbone of heavy cybernetic metal that is some of the strongest music that Klayton has produced in the past two decades.

There are the odd tracks that fall a little flatter with the likes of 'Hive-Mind' and 'K_OS' in particular coming off as the most filler-like of the cuts. Also the second half of the album does tend to run out of steam to a degree before being pulled back up by the stunning closer 'Malacandra'.

With those few issues aside it is a genuinely enjoyable album that will please both long-time fans and should also grab the attention of younger fans of industrial metal that would have missed Circle Of Dust first time round. Hopefullt COD will remain a going concern for Klayton, not at the expense of Celldweller, but it would be great to see COD do at least one more album and a touring stint on the back of this unexpected but gratefully received album. 

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