Circus Maximus is a new band from Norway, a country that has produced a couple of very promising bands this year. First
Communic and now
Circus Maximus. Looking past the somewhat weird band name, what you will find on their debut album is a solid dose of Progressive Metal.
Technically everything is in near perfect order. The music is executed with great skill all around and the guitar work in particular is excellent. Singer Michael Eriksen's voice is a blend of guys like Midnight (Crimson Glory),
James LaBrie (Dream Theater) and Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche). Not that he matches any of them, but he does a very good job and I'm sure he will develop further with time.
Circus Maximus have potential that could take them far but first they need to step out of the shadows of their ancestors so to say and create their own sound. It is sort of ironic to me that a progressive metal album like this falls short in terms of originality. To say that
Circus Maximus proudly wear their influences on their sleeve is an understatement. They often flaunt them about so openly that it detracts from my enjoyment of this album and that is a shame.
I guess a few examples are in order.
Take the 10+ minute Gladiator-inspired
Glory of the Empire. Does the main melody
get any closer to The Accolade by
Symphony X? And what is with that keyboard melody at 1:23? Is Maximus suddenly arriving in Rivendell? A potentially masterful song unfortunately fails due to a strong feeling of Deja-vu in several places.
The
Symphony X influence pops up again in
Biosfear (Awakenings) and the Ayreon-sounding keyboard in
The Prophecy almost makes me miss the awesome chorus. That keyboard sequence just doesn't work here. The 19 minute
The 1'st Chapter starts out with a typical instrumental introduction but the song never really takes off. It lacks some real surprises and I think the flow could be better. Maybe I'm just distracted by the extremely familiar guitar melody which appears at 4:20 and again later in the song around 12:56. DT anyone?
I could go on with other smaller moments which remind me of other artists, but I think you get the idea.
Personal favorites include the beautiful
Silence from Angles Above, the powerful opener
Sin, which also has some cool stereo effects,
Why Am I here, which has a nice Lanfear-vibe at times and of course the chorus from
The Prophecy which gets me every time.
Overall this is a good album and a very promising debut. No bad songs, lots of entertaining music to take in but I feel a definite lack of originality. I do believe this band has only shown a glimpse of their potential and as they mature I'm sure they will come up with something more surprising.
Written by
Steen Sunday, July 17, 2005
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