"Circus Maximus fuse Progressive Metal and AOR together brilliantly"

Follow up:

10/10

# "A Darkened Mind" − 5:33
# "Abyss" − 5:00
# "Wither" − 4:46
# "Sane No More" (Instrumental) − 3:55
# "Arrival of Love" − 4:10
# "Zero" − 4:50
# "Mouth of Madness" − 12:42

* I. Alone
* II. The Dream
* III. The Initiation
* IV. The Secret
* V. The Conflict
* VI. The Awakening

# "From Childhood's Hour" − 4:28 Listen to the song!
# "Ultimate Sacrifice" − 9:17

Where to start. "Isolate" has earned a place among my favorite albums of all time. Being released just last year, that really says something about the quality of it. This is the second album for the Norwegian Progressive Metallers, Circus Maximus. They fuse Progressive and AOR together brilliantly and the harmonies that these guys bring to the table really evoke emotions. This is mood changing. It's uplifting but melancholy. It's a beautiful sadness. Let me explain.

"Isolate" is a concept album that follows the journey of a man's downward spiral into madness. The production is so crisp, so heavy, so clean and so beautiful that one could derive joy from simply hearing the interplay of the instruments. And it only gets better as the album goes on.

As the album opens with "A Darkened Mind" you follow a man who's at odds with his lover and goes out into the night on his own. The second song "Abyss" sees the first hints of devastation.

"I stand on the edge of the abyss and I am waiting to fall
I see no way out in life, when I looked back there was no one there for me."

"Wither" takes him to a prison cell where he spends the course of the next few songs contemplating his life. "Arrival of Love" is a very upbeat tune and is one of my personal favorites on the album. This song tells of how he remembers how much he loved his woman and how he must not let himself lose it all.

"Zero" is written from the lady's perspective, saying that he's fallen too far into madness and no matter how much she tries to bring him back, she has to accept the fact that he's dead to her. This is a very powerful ballad tune and has lots of nice piano work.

"Mouth of Madness" puts the perspective in third person, describing the mess that has become our character.

"He wanders the streets, with a near empty bottle of wine in his hand
He is cold from the rain and wind
The last red sip keeps him warm"

This is the longest song on the album, clocking in at close to 14 minutes and contains my favorite musical section on the album. It's near the 9 1/2 minute marker. There is a mid paced driving riff accented with dreamy keyboards. But to make this amazing, the vocalist must be doing 4 part harmonies over that as well as singing the main lyrics. It simply must be hear to be appreciated.

The next song "A Childhood's Hour" is my favorite track on the album. It's so emotionally charged that I can listen to is and be instantly happy no matter what mood I was in previously. It tells about the man's childhood and how he struggled so hard for so long to find his one true love. The chord progression in this song is indescribably joyful to listen to.

"Thinking will he never ever get his bride
or is his life a stagnant tide
Into a self-made hell he was thrown
All that he loved, he loved alone"

The final cut on the album "Ultimate Sacrifice" reveals that our character, in his bout with insanity has done terrible things and is now destined to spend his days in a padded cell but has since become sane. Yet he cannot escape the prison that he has made for himself. The play of guitars and keyboards in the song are awesome and are the point to listen for.

I've spent more time listening to this album in the past year than any album that I have and If you like music period (read music PERIOD) buy this and listen to it. It deserves your attention.

Links

Circus Maximus on Myspace
Circus Maximus' official website
Buy the album

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