Circus Maximus - Isolate - Sensory 

Circus Maximus blew me away a few years with their nothing short of breathtaking debut disc,  The 1^st Chapter.  Now a few years have passed and maturity has found them recording and dealing their stellar sophomore disc Isolate.  Taking everything from the first and going ahead light years to create what has to be this years monster record.   Imagine mating early Fates Warning and the first incarnation of Crimson Glory and you have Circus Maximus and Isolate.  They have taken their influences and ran with them, going further than the above mentioned bands could have gone with their original lineups.   There are 9 tracks represented here and they are all excellent.  I cannot skip through a song, zero filler.  Michael Eriksen has some of the best pipes in metal at the moment and his ability to take  the clean highs into the stratosphere is purely amazing.   His ability to channel the dark material that this disc provides and make it real only highlights his ability as one of today’s premiere singers.   The material is different, great time changes with subtle innuendos throughout the passages. The lyrics will make you cringe as if you have felt those emotions before, the hallmark of great writing and all backed up by four of the best musicians going.  Even the cover hints at the despair that unravels inside the music, dark and haunting.   This is labeled as Prog metal and it is but at the same time it is so much more.    

www.circusmaximussite.com 

CD review by Jeffrey Easton