Gnosis is the highly anticipated 8th album from Russian Circles. On their seven studio albums to date, Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles have traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods and approaches with their limited arsenal of drums, bass and guitar. It's hard to trace an evolution in their sound when their records have always felt like well-curated playlists. It wasn't uncommon to hear droning meditations, shimmering prog exercises, bludgeoning riff fests, haunting folk ballads and tension-filled noise rock all within the same album. Still, it's hard to ignore the evolution from the pensive and intricate melodies of Enter (2006) to the distorted sounds of Blood Year (2019). It's been a gradual sonic shift due to the band's rigorous touring schedule and their penchant for playing their most authoritative material on stage. But with their latest album, Gnosis, Russian Circles leave the varied terrain of their earlier work and blaze a trail through the most turbulent and harrowing territory of their sound. As with so many artists in the age of COVID, the obstacles of geography and isolation forced Russian Circles to re-evaluate their writing process. Rather than crafting songs from fragmentary ideas in the rehearsal room, complete songs were written and recorded independently before being shared with the other members to preserve their original vision. Although the entire album was written remotely, the songs were recorded with the full band to preserve the live feel of the material. Due to the climate of the times and a new writing method, Russian Circles created their smokiest and most focused work to date - an album that favours the exorcism of the tensions of two years over the melancholy and restraint that often characterised their earlier ventures. The LP is classic black vinyl in gatefold plus download, as well as exclusive transparent orange vinyl in gatefold (limited to 1000 copies worldwide). The CD comes as a 6-sided digipak.