WHISPERS AND SCREAMS

Shadow Circus belong to the rare breed of prog that combines classic British prog with prominent vintage keyboards (think ELP) from the 70s with traditional American music - country, blues, western, gospel. They are not pioneers, of course, - Kansas obviously comes to mind. But whereas Kansas were lyrically pretentious, Shadow Circus is more down to earth, writing songs based on books and TV shows. The first part of this album, for instance, is a quasi-epic based on Stephen Kings's The Stand. A quasi-epic because it is not a unified composition, but a sequence of related songs with some blending-in and recurring themes.

This is pure retro-prog, with a vintage sound. Apart from brief occasions of energetic riffing from the guitarist, it is almost entirely oblivious of modernity. More or less catchy. Vocals are theatrical, but not in Shakespearean theater sense, rather circus-announcer sense. Shadow Circus, indeed.