ISOLATE

Can AOR Metal be technical and progressive? What new can you expect on the Dream Theater area of music? Well, thank god Circus Maximus are here to give us a new prespective to things. They did it greatly with 1st Chapter and they are back with Isolate.

CM created a genuine progressive metal album with highly melodic vocals. The whole sound is totally uplifitng. Solos are here to shout that these guys know what they are doing. Keyboards have a special part in all the songs, along with beautiful and in some points extremely technical guitar parts. Another great thing is the solid song structure. Each song has its main form and the surprising prog elements are blended with it. CM prove that their songwriting is one of the strongest advantages.

This album has great mixing of melody and heavy guitar riffs. The choruses wake memories of past decades. This nostalgic part of their music is like a tribute to all that 80's bands that we loved. And the guitars and keyboard are returning us to the present, to all that prog music that we embrace these days. I don't know if that was their intention but that's how it worked for me.

So is it good? Let's say that this is one of the more important releases this year, in the area og Prog Metal. This year we had great releases from well established prog bands, but don't stick just to them. Trust me, whenever you listen to this album you hope that never ends. In the future we expect more masterpieces from CM.