{"id":3093,"date":"2018-09-27T01:43:25","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T01:43:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-09T18:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T22:23:40","slug":"circle-of-dust-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/27\/circle-of-dust-full-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"CIRCLE OF DUST: Full Circle – The Birth, Death and Rebirth Of Circle Of Dust (DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For those who have been following the resurrection of Circle Of Dust since 2015, as well as for those who were mesmerized and inspired by this cutting-edge, \u201890\u2019s techno\/metal hybrid phenomenon back in those days, Full Circle represents the culmination of everything \u2013 both wonderful and tragic \u2013 which has transpired over the past two and a half decades. This 2 DVD set (also available in HD digital download) is packed with great documentaries and videos (both past and present). And while I confess that at the end I was still left hoping for more (still so many more questions to be answered), this set is an extremely satisfying viewing experience on many levels \u2013 one which takes a lot of time to digest and process.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Disc 01<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The main documentary (76:50) focuses on the entity of Circle Of Dust and is presented in chronological order, beginning with Klayton as a kid pounding on his drums and progressing through the teenage years as he develops into a multi-instrumentalist\/vocalist and songwriter. From basement (\u201cCelldweller\u201d) creativity to signing his first record deal, Klayton (along with great eyewitness accounts of friends\/bandmates\/label guys, etc.) carefully details the successes and failures, in a humble and honest\/transparent manner (you just want to love this guy and see him succeed!), of his musical journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produced by FiXT<\/a>\u2019s own James Rhodes, the quality of the recording is excellent and the flow of story-telling perfectly paced to hold the viewer\u2019s interest for the hour and a quarter duration. The chapters are laid out in an intuitive progression, but most will want to just watch it \u201cstart to finish\u201d without interruption. For me, it was over too fast, but I think for the average viewer the length is good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Klayton does discuss his approach to and vision for the music with each release, I would have liked to hear more about his approach to writing lyrics and the inspirations and ideas behind some of these mind-bending and provocative themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Argyle Park featurette is presented as \u201cbonus\u201d material (how appropriate, right, for a retro \u201890\u2019s documentary) but it is fairly short. Again, it would have been nice to have a bit more depth about this release and the lyrical inspiration and approach. Great to hear input from guys like Jeff Bellew, Mark Salomon and of course Buka, who contributed on a conceptual level but isn\u2019t a musician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, for all the metal nerds and technological music geeks, Klayton divulges the secrets behind the production of the music of Circle of Dust in the final \u201cbonus\u201d documentary, \u201cMaking The Music: The Gear & Production Of Circle Of Dust.\u201d This feature is fantastic as Klayton takes label-mate and collaborator Bret (Blue Stahli) \u2013 along with the viewer of course \u2013 on a detailed tour of his studio equipment, to include rows of ADAT and DAT tapes, samplers and the vaunted Mac (which still works!), plus much more. For those of us who grew up in the 70\u2019s and worked our way through the technological advances in music and computers from the mid 80\u2019s onward this is like a trip down memory lane!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Disc 02<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the documentary is incredibly informative and interesting, this is definitely the \u201cfan disc\u201d because it contains over 90 minutes of VHS quality \u201cbootleg\u201d material \u2013 17 songs in total spanning the 1992-1995 era. Options are available for \u201cPlay All\u201d or \u201cSongs\u201d but it should be noted that the songs in the root menu are in no particular chronological order, nor are they grouped by venue, so you are really just getting a somewhat random list of songs to watch. Furthermore, the individual songs are identified only by song title and date, as there is no venue\/location listed on the DVD menu or at the beginning of the song during playback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tracks are nicely blended \u201cin sequence\u201d and so this plays out something like a concert. Video quality is about what you would expect from bootleg quality material circa mid 90\u2019s \u2013 good but not great. And while the audio quality is fair, Klay\u2019s vocals are very discernable on the majority of these tracks, so the overall listening experience is really quite satisfying for what this represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are quite a few songs included from both the \u201992 and \u201995 Cornerstone Festival performances, including the \u201992 \u201cExploration\u201d where Klayton starts the song pounding on his half of Tilton\u2019s drum kit and then makes the somewhat awkward transition to guitar (struggling with his guitar strap). On \u201cConsequence\u201d (\u201893\/\u201994) there is a really cool effect as the two performances are spliced together as one song. And fans will be glad to have the live performance of \u201cTechnological Disguise\u201d here as that track (along with \u201cSenseless Abandon\u201d) was not included on the 2016 remake of the debut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching these performances more than two decades later is fascinating because this techno\/metal hybrid (never envisioned to be a live band) was not only pulling off a credible live musical performance with a definitive metal edge, but with their futuristic sound samples, eerie TV monitors and light show they were paving the way for a whole new style of music and live performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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