Circle of Dust
New York, New York9 reviews across 4 releases
Circle of Dust is a New York industrial metal project formed in the early 1990s by Scott Albert after the breakup of his thrash band Immortal. Although live musicians joined him, Albert chiefly shaped the records in the studio. The 1992 debut set crunching metal riffs against sampled and keyboard-driven textures, with hypnotic hooks and lyrics concerned with despair and redemption. Metamorphosis intensified the attack, alternating hard and soft sections while giving "Heldweller" a death-metal vocal treatment. Brainchild pushed further into menacing industrial metal, using complex samples and frequent rhythmic changes rather than static loops. The project sounded increasingly constructed in the studio, though its basic force remained the collision of heavy guitar, programmed percussion, distorted vocals, and electronic atmosphere.
In 1995, Scott Albert disbanded Circle of Dust, ending its live-band phase while continuing to work through related projects including Brainchild, Argyle Park, and Klank. He returned in 1998 with Disengage, identified as the final Circle of Dust album and issued under the name Klay Scott. The record shifted toward darkwave and electronic beats, with less metallic weight and more introspective writing; its second section, "Refractorchasm," reduced the guitars further in favor of electronic remixes. Klayton later pursued Celldweller, which became his main project. After regaining control of the earlier Circle of Dust catalog in 2015, he revived the name and issued new material, including Machines of Our Disgrace in 2016.
4 releases reviewed
Circle of Dust
Metamorphosis
Brainchild
