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Circus Maximus
| "Isolate" |
Released in 2007 / SR-3038 |
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“Wow, what an impressive debut from these Norwegian progsters! I feel the same way about prog metal as I do about power metal: some of it I like a great deal and some of it does absolutely nothing for me. CIRCUS MAXIMUS' "The 1st Chapter" does damn near everything for me.” – Blabbermouth.net
Circus Maximus’ first album, “The First Chapter”, took the metal world by storm in 2005. In advance of the release, the band was invited to make their North American debut at ProgPower USA. The response to their performance and the subsequent CD release produced an encore appearance in 2006.
Since then the band has spent the past year gigging and further refining their sound. With the release of “Isolate”, they are poised to take their place alongside the upper echelon of progressive metal bands. The band’s musical formula is not easy to accomplish – take jaw dropping musicianship, add a singer like Michael Eriksen with a voice from heaven and toss it together with hooks, anthemic melodies and enough heavy riffing to stick with you for days. Just for good measure, toss in state of the art production courtesy of noted producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Jorn, Pretty Maids and TNT). It’s the band’s ability to do this all so well in such a short period of time that has drawn them so much attention.
Isolate represents the best of both worlds – it’s progressive enough for any fan of technical minded metal but at the same time it’s purely infectious music. From ballads like “Zero” to the epic length “Mouth Of Madness”, this album will instantly appeal to fans of bands such as Symphony X, Dream Theater, and Kamelot.
Music as amazing as this deserves artwork to match. Once again, Mattias Noren has been enlisted to design the packaging.
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| "The First Chapter" |
Released in 2005 / SR-3026 |
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The new wave of Norwegian progressive metal has found a worthy representative in Circus Maximus. The band has a wide variety of musical influences, from pop/rock to 70's Prog-Rock to Heavy and Death metal, all of which is blended together and gives them their unique sound. This melting pot creates a mixture of great melodies, groove, heavy riffs and weird odd time signatures.
"The First Chapter" was recorded in various studios in Norway, and mixed in October 2004 in Denmark at Jailhouse Studios with well-known producer Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Pretty Maids, Wuthering Heights) at the helm.
The sound is impeccable, the musicianship is out-of-this-world, Michael Eriksen's voice is amazing (reminding of Tony Harnell, Joey Tempest and Ronnie Atkins), and the songs are simply outstanding. A superb mixture of classic hard rock anthems and progressive technical bits and pieces. Just listen to tracks as the upbeat opener "Sin", the beautiful ballad "Silence From Angels Above", the grandiose "Glory Of The Empire" or the 19-minute magnum-opus "The 1st Chapter".
This album will for sure appeal to all fans of bands such as Symphony X, TNT, Dream Theater, Pretty Maids and Queensryche.
Circus Maximus will be making their North American debut at ProgPower USA in Atlanta, GA on September 16, 2005. |
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