Review Summary: Always Laughing. Always. Always.
Circuit Circuit, offering a blend of mathcore and noise rock, is an electrifying (guffaw) group that I have been tracking for a while. The group has been mostly silent since 2023’s EP
Body Songs, and after returning to the EP for chunks of times throughout the years since, the group has returned with their first full-length
Always Laughing. Bringing a sound soaked in discomfort, towering with dissonance, and unrelenting to the very end, Circuit Circuit has succeeded in carving out a space in the next wave of heavy music.
The album wastes no time giving listeners the proof-of-concept, opening with “****ville” (a kindred connection to my username, perhaps?). Jagged guitar riffs and a bounty of cold guitar screeches are in spades while the song rattles on unstable ground. Throughout the twists and turns, the song rumbles towards some semblance of footing before a post-hardcore breakdown towards the 3:40 mark. Feedback, friction and mania is the name of the game with
Always Laughing.
The next song, and lead single “Death By Billboard”, is about as accessible as the album gets. Featuring a straight-forward structure (by this album’s standards, anyhow), the song revolves more around sing-a-long vocal lines and start-stop riffs. One of the band’s strengths throughout the album is their ability to sit on an idea and repeat, and that is exemplified perfectly on this track. Guitar stabs and silence accompanying the shouting “that this moment is null” stops the song dead and won’t start again until the point is made. Throughout the album, the band does a great job finding spots to let the listener soak in ideas before kickstarting the hellscape again.
When it comes to sheer chaos, one of the album standouts has to be “This City Is a Gaping Wound”. Coming at the mid-mark of the album, just when you’ve figured out where the limits are with the band’s sound, tricks appear from the sleeve. It’s as if the ground opened up, erupting ghosts of The Chariot and Dillinger Escape Plan, pummeling the listener with some of the album’s most unhinged moments. Goosebumps, chills, hair standing on end; If there was one track to check out first, I would recommend this.
What shocked me the most with
Always Laughing, however, is that the band does offer some longer, more progressive songs, and they are easily the other standouts of the album. “Crush”, clocking at nearly 8 minutes long, sounds like the antitheses of what the band has put forward so far; Bass and drum-driven structure, droning guitar leads and spoken word sections pin a melancholy not quite yet heard on the album up until this point. Singer Michael Zirnheld has been a bright spot on the songs up until this point, but this song really exemplifies his ability to deliver tortured, melodic vocals while highlighting some of the album’s best lyrics. “Rose Tinted Nothing” isn’t too far behind, offering more opportunity to hear the band explore their space, grip the listener in repeating drone, and exemplify their point at the end with a crushing finale (“Always Laughing. Always. Always”).
After listening to
Always Laughing for a few days, 2023’s
Body Songs almost sounds like a pop record. The band has elevated their sound to new heights, and currently stands as one of 2026’s best heavy offerings. Creative, punishing and crafted, hopefully we don’t have to wait another three years for more material from one of the scene’s best emerging bands.
