Circumambulation
by True Widow
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
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  1. AllMusic
    Jul 23, 2013
    80
    While the album might not reach the heights and depths of True Widow's previous effort, it's a fantastic album in its own right that finds the band tweaking a proven formula rather than just sitting back and making the same album again and again.
  2. Alternative Press
    Jul 23, 2013
    80
    There's a spiraling circularity to Circumambulation that makes the disc feel more like a hypnotic, deathlike hymn than just a bummer stuck on repeat. [Aug 2013, p.92]
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  3. Exclaim
    Jul 23, 2013
    80
    True Widow's newest album, Circumambulation, does a brilliant job of expressing the network of confused and sometimes dark emotions that make us human.
  5. Filter
    Aug 2, 2013
    78
    It comes on slow, seeping into your memory through dusty riffs as expansive as Texas plains.
  6. Kerrang!
    Aug 22, 2013
    80
    While it's easy enough to pinpoint parallels, True Widow's appeal lies in the manner of their mixing, of the tremendously turbulent with the undeniably immediate. [27 Jul 2013, p.54]
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  7. Magnet
    Aug 16, 2013
    80
    It might not get the party started, but it'll sure as hell get the freshly converted pilgrims ambling. [No. 101, p.61]
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  8. No Ripcord
    Jul 23, 2013
    80
    Circumambulation practically evades any trace of sheen that was found on their two previous efforts. The differences are minimal but not predictable, lying somewhere between sludgy stoner metal and expansive, yet acute rhythmic precision; it’s their ability to never stand on solid ground that elevates their caliginous mid-tempo tunes.
  9. NOW Magazine
    Aug 8, 2013
    60
    Here True Widow dispel some of the pot-smoky fog, putting across a crisper, tighter, discernibly quicker sound.
  10. Pitchfork
    Jul 31, 2013
    72
    There's a weight here that could drag you down if you let it, but mostly this is a band searching for hope amid shattered dreams.
  11. PopMatters
    Aug 19, 2013
    90
    Many of the best records manage the trick of making the listener feel like they are hearing nothing less than a satisfyingly total and complete sound-world, that for its length no other music could or need exist. The stoned-lava flows and driving inertia of Circumambulation make that trick seem like the easiest one in the world.

Awards & Rankings

60
#60 Best Album of 2013

User Reviews

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User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Derezzination
    Aug 8, 2013
    5
    True Widow say that they are a combination of Sludge Metal and Stoner Rock, and it sure seems like that. Opening track on CircumambulationTrue Widow say that they are a combination of Sludge Metal and Stoner Rock, and it sure seems like that. Opening track on Circumambulation creeps to life and turns into a six minute droning drawl that has a hypnotising affect on the listener. Unfortunately, it is this hypnotic feel that the band have by sticking in the mid to low tempos, that ties the album down.

    The album can be melodic, in “S:H:S” and in “I:M:O” where there is a heavy reliance on vocals and the production does a good job to make sure that the vocals aren’t lost in the background, which I have found in other records this year.

    In concentrated doses, I could listen to this, but after almost an hour of it, you can feel almost woozy with tiredness as it just is almost relentless in its slow moving pace. It never really give you a sense that it is moving on. The album contains songs that would be good for a mix tape, or for stoner’s; which is what genre they fall into.

    Overall, the album is strong in a few aspects. The sound packs a punch and the dreamy essence that flows through the album can be really appealing, but it just falls apart mid drift, it doesn’t hold you down in your sleep, instead it floats away and your left on your own.    … Full Review »
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