Circus Maximus - First Chapter
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Circus MaximusEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Music Label: Sensory Records
Soundtracks:
- Sin
- Alive
- Glory of the Empire
- Biosfear
- Silence from Angels Above
- Why Am I Here
- The Prophecy
- The 1st Chapter
- Imperial Destruction
Free Music Notes for First Chapter
Free Music Review: Superb melodic prog metal
Hit: 5 Stars
I wish some prog listeners could look past bands' influences. Yes, Circus Maximus is heavily influenced by Dream Theater, but why does everyone make such a big deal of it? I've had this disc for over seven months now and each successive listen proved to be more rewarding. This is a fantastic debut from a young Norwegian band. It encompasses a wide variety of styles but always keeps them within the boundaries of melodic progressive metal. Vocalist Michael Eriksen is the type of singer every prog metal band would want to have. He has excellent range and killer phrasing. Sometimes I have to think of Geoff Tate circa Operation: Mindcrime, sometimes the amazing Tony Harnell from TNT, and even some AOR vocalists, but one thing remains: Eriksen sings everything with a heavy melodic focus and delivers amazing vocal harmonies throughout. Starting with one of the best album opener's of 2005, "Sin", he belts out jawdropping screams, impressive double vocals, and classic hard rock type of harmonies, whilst the band behind him produce some of the best composed riffs and melodies you'll ever find on a first album. The end of the song is highlighted by a frenetic interplay where every member gets his part to impress the listener.
Central to the album are the keyboards played by Espen Stovo who has unfortunately left the band recently. Stovo provides an array of different sounds and tones, ranging from symphonic synth elements on "Alive" (he also duels wildly with guitarist Mats Haugen at the end) to majestic piano interludes and lots of 70's prog rock organs. On "The Prophecy" the band combines lush acoustic guitars with solemn piano and then abruptly breaks into a riff-laden prog number that is eventually underlied by a beautiful symphonic backdrop utilising a brief analog synth solo along the way. Likewise, the 19-minute title track features a delicately arranged keyboard orchestration in its slowly building intro before the Haugen brothers go into a thrash-inspired instrumental pasage with syncopated drum and guitar accents. Joined by thick bass rhythms, the three players dabble with a killer tech metal experimentation before they suddenly cut out lest Espen Stovo can offer a pretty synth lead akin to those on Flower Kings albums. Because this is a long song and the closing solo by Mats Hauglen is slighly neoclassical, "The 1st Chapter" has been labeled as a Symphony X clone by some, and while I can hear similarities, that's where the comparisons end as far as I'm concerned. Inspired by Roman history, "Glory of the Empire" is another lengthy tune conjuring up images of fierce battles, and displaying Michael Eriksen's most versatile performance. On this song, Eriksen first sounds like an 80's AOR singer during the folky synth lines in the intro before he shows us his Tate-like upper register vocals. The band's instrumental prowess is best presented on the complex "Why Am I Here", a song that I assume must be quite hard to pull off live. The chemistry between the guitars and drums, and the very heavy bass walk, all occasionally backed by sprinkles of keyboards, elevate Eriksen's majestic vocals to a higher level. This song is a work of multi-riffage and constant shifts between time signatures. More technical brilliance is executed on the instrumental track "Biosfear", which could compete with the best tech metallers out there. Haugen lays down choppy guitar licks right from the get-go, while his brother and Glen Mollen on bass form a strong rhythmic backbone to the song. However, once again, it is Storo's stunning keyboard work during the unison solo that makes this piece. Storo makes subtle references to 70's prog and plays beautiful Egyptian melodies on this one.
Besides the amazing musicianship, booklet, and mixing job of Tommy Hansen, The 1st Chapter also deserves mention for its lyrical depth. Michael Eriksen is also a great lyricist. He explores dark themes on some of the songs. For instance, "Sin" is a study in crime, from the perspectives of both the criminal and victim, while on the acoustic guitar and synth-driven ballad "Silence From Angels Above", the lyrics portay the desperation of someone who kills his loved one and then seeks forgiveness and piece of mind through religion.
2005 was a great year for prog metal bands. This disc is most essential to listeners who bought and enjoyed the last albums of Pantommind, Zero Hour, Sieges Even, Redemption, NovAct, Pagan's Mind, and Shadow Gallery.
First Chapter Poster
The easy -- call it the cop-out -- description of Norway's Circus Maximus would be to say that they essentially offer accomplished, melodic prog metal in the Dream Theater vein, only delivered with a distinctly European aesthetic. Of course things are never so simple when discussing the dense and complex array of sounds necessary for sculpting this sort of music; and, therefore, the presence of DT's soaring vocals, heroic guitars, aggressive synthesizers, and a busy rhythm section merely begin to paint the full picture. There's much more here than initially meets the ears: first and foremost being Circus Maximus' clear appreciation of more straightforward AOR and hard rock songwriting hallmarks, which, for all of the band's fleet-fingered displays, ultimately helps sharpen their songwriting. As such, standout tracks like "Sin," "Alive," and "The Prophecy" capture a perfect balance of hooks and shocks, while the lone power ballad, "Silence From Angels Above," fairs somewhat poorly for going a bit over the top -- though that too is of course to be expected. Excepting the instrumental "Biosfear," full-fledged technical showboating is surprisingly restrained, all things considered, and perhaps the final endorsement to be made about the group's talents is that monolithic numbers such as the ten-minute "Glory of the Empire" and the 19-minute title track (showing shades of ELP, and numerous other influences) hardly feel any longer than the more conventionally sized offerings. (OK, maybe the last, which, as one might expect, actually contains more than a few songs stitched together -- sometimes uncomfortably so.) In any case, it's impossible to categorize The 1st Chapter as anything but an absolute tour de force -- particularly considering that it's the first attempt by a new band. Should Circus Maximus be able to replicate such high-caliber results for the second chapter, they could very well become standard-bearers of their generation. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, RoviChristian & Gospel Music CDs
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