As an instrumental band, Russian Circles’ feelings about what their songs “mean” will always be open to interpretation. Without the benefit of lyrics or vocals, the listener may never know for sure. But by kicking off their appropriately titled ninth album with a brooding, hammering track called “Borehole”, and acknowledging it as a reference to the deepest man-made hole on Earth—the 40,230-foot-deep Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3 in Russia—they surely must be saying something about man’s abuse of the planet. Or not. But it’s fun to guess. “E2” feels like an awakening—of a mind, of a species? Nobody knows. “Meridian” speaks to mental geography as much as physical movement; it’d make an excellent soundtrack to a drive through the mountains. Mike Sullivan’s nylon-string interlude “Arletta” serves the same function as the classical-acoustic intros to Metallica’s “To Live Is to Die” or “Battery”—in this case, the calm before the storm that is “Seventh Seal”. Which is clearly an Ingmar Bergman reference. Right? Our Favourite Track: “Eluvial” is an extended odyssey into deep space that seems doomed to crash into the sun. Punctuated by bassist/keyboardist Brian Cook’s synths, Sullivan’s tidal-wave guitar riffs and drummer Dave Turncrantz’s stylish battery, it’s the most epic and formidable track on the album.