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Whether it’s due to a delayed reaction against the rough’n’ready three-minute rock song mentality of their country’s musical heritage or the inspiration pulled from an endless and awe-inspiring landscape, Australia seems to be over-delivering on fearless and unravelling epic acts designed to get your brain thinking and your heart pumping.

Adding to the already brimming ambit enveloping Karnivool and Northlane are Circles. Not content with retreading the djent formula, these Aussie maestros have chosen the Tesseract route, tempering the unmusical sound effect of guitars being thwacked with heartfelt, soaring vocal melodies, euphoric choruses and spinetingling interludes.

Ground Shift and As It Is Above are testament to their stellar persuasions, infusing their Faith No More-meets-Periphery style with Deftonesian intensity, while Erased turns Queensrÿche on their 21st-century head before pummelling in with a sonic sledgehammer. A dazzling debut.

With over 10 years’ experience writing for Metal Hammer and Prog, Holly has reviewed and interviewed a wealth of progressively-inclined noise mongers from around the world. A fearless voyager to the far sides of metal Holly loves nothing more than to check out London’s gig scene, from power to folk and a lot in between. When she’s not rocking out Holly enjoys being a mum to her daughter Violet and working as a high-flying marketer in the Big Smoke.