CIRCUS MAXIMUS — Isolate (review)

CIRCUS MAXIMUS — Isolate album cover Album · 2007 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Stephen
"Isolate" is Circus Maximus' second album and a follow-up to the highly praised debut, "The 1st Chapter". Released by Frontiers in 2007, Circus Maximus is one of the few progressive-based bands that was handled by the label which is famous for its hard rock and AOR releases. Their musical style is a combination of melodic heavy metal and progressive, making them much easier to listen for non-prog fans, and another interesting fact to underline is that most songs here are quite short compared to the regular prog tracks which is stretched to a minimum of 7 or 8 minutes. The production level is also very good.

On this album, only two lengthy tracks were included which is "Mouth of Madness", started with a gloomy semi-ballad approach, but turned out to be a decent 12-minutes composition, while the other one is better, "Ultimate Sacrifice", a pure melodic metal with a bit prog flavor. The first three tracks are among the strongest here: "A Darkened Mind", a thumping rhythm with a furious beat and melodic chorus, is my first fave. "Abyss" with its chugging riffs and slower tempo, still offer a delicious chorus. "Wither", a well-crafted Verse and Chorus and another favorite. "From Childhood's Hour" is a more laid-back melodic hard rock and less-prog track. "Arrival of Love", in my opinion, is their masterpiece, they smartly blend a balance amount of commercial element, hard rock, progressive metal, and guitar exploration into one fantastic song.

To sum up, "Isolate" lacks of ultra experimentation of a usual progressive metal band but also not a dull effort by a young band. Instead, the songwriting skill and band’s delivery are admirable. With a less-complex structure, this is definitely accessible to casual melodic metal lovers or hard rock fans, and probably won't feed a hungry hardcore progmetal fans, but judging from a string of powerful songs, "Isolate" is an essential album to have.
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