This album occupies a funny sort of dual place for me: the immediate, visceral punch sounds extremely now, but when I dig into the sound itself it takes me back 20+ years to a style that seemed new then.
Huge melodic hooks snap, crackle and pop amid metallic chugs and lunges, forming a cratered battlescape over which is unleashed the band’s secret weapon: Crystal Pak’s furious, flamethrower voice.
Like most Triple-B releases, ‘Cerebral Circus’ sounds vast, unfettered and entirely confident occupying its own space, making it a suitable accompaniment to LPs by anyone from Black Radical Love to Warfare regardless of stylistic distinctions. It also, though, feels like a modern companion piece to records like ‘Under The Radar’ or ‘After The Eulogy’ given how big, bold, tuneful and unafraid to be absolutely earnest it is.
While it’s a careful balance, Initiate achieve it effortlessly, forging a record that’s by turns furious, fragile and, occasionally, glintingly, dangerously, hopeful.