CIRCUS PANDEMONIUM

ACT is backt! After an 8-year silence since their last album, Silence. Their goofy faces (as in their photo on this site) should in the encyplopaedia under eclectic prog. I define their style as Broadway heavy music, or a metal band indulging their Queen, disco-era ELO and that funky-reggae craze many rock bands underwent at the 70-80s border, with a healthy dose of playfulness.

ACT are no strangers to the more-sinister-than-it-seems-by-the-playful-music epic concepts. In this regard, Circus is most similar to their best work, Last Epic. It's tight, well-produced (if a bit too heavy on the guitar side) and catchy as hell. But, like similar efforts - after a long wait - by popular bands such as Arena or Fates Warning, feels kinda perfunctionary. Less fresh and diverse. Evil circus must be the most overused concept in culture. Stylistically, they mostly stick to heavy power-pop here (heading into outright metal territory by the end), and instrumental jams overuse the stop-start heavy riffing- softer keyboards pattern.

Good, but they can do better.