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CIRCUS MAXIMUS ‘The 1st Chapter ’ Frontiers (2005)
I often wonder about bands like Circus Maximus. I listened to The 1st Chapter, with a sense of excitment, with my love for
all things progressive metal. After a lot of hype on various internet forums and message boards, I was
ready for something above the normal.
Circus Maximus play a quite heavy brand of progressive metal, that is
sometimes reminds me of Symphony X.
There is a strange sense of melody throughout this album in the vocals, that
reminds me of a certain Swedish pop band called Abba!
Some of the chorus had me thinking they were heavily influence by the famous
70's quartet.
A fairly consistant album that flows quit well, has the obligitory epic, the
nineteen minute epic title track. No prog metal band are quite the complete
package unless they had such a lengthy song.
Guitarist Mats Haugen reminds me a lot, specially in his soloing, of Michael
Romeo of Symphony X, some serious neo-classical shredding right throughout the album, done in a very tastey way and never too
indulgent.
A definte must for fans of Symphony X, Kamelot and Stratovarius.
****
Review by Graham Boyle
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