WHISPERS AND SCREAMS

As a newcomer to Shadow Circus, I had no idea what to really expect. The symphonic tag only serves to categorize a minority of the band's sound and musical exploration, which as this album displays, is far, far more diverse than expected. The album's flagship piece is a 33 minute epic called Project Blue, made up of 7 small sections. The playing is experimental, technically capable and fantastically executed. Project Blue is a very interesting epic, although I feel it could have flowed better. The tracks after the epic are all great songs, and stand very well by themselves and as part of this album. This is a great album, and one of my favourites from the latter part of 2009. My only real complaint about the album is the vocals - Whilst they aren't bad, they certainly aren't the strongest part of the album. The singing itself is not my problem - It's the numerous effects and muffles which, in this writer's opinion, only serve to drag down the quality.

Project Blue Part One - Captain Trips opens the album with a billowy echo, which transcends into some eerie guitar squeals and eventually into a toe-tappingly catchy riff. The Hammond organ chords over the top of the guitar are great, and the drumming is unpredictable and clever. The bass is rather low in the mix, although still sufficient. The tracks chorus is a little softer than the verses, but the mix of the two is great - The song hops heavy to heavier and back again constantly, which makes it enjoyable time after time. The lyrics are good, although difficult to hear at times. A solid opener, but interestingly, this reveals little of the sound which the rest of the album displays.

Project Blue Part Two - The Long Road is flowed into by Captain Trips, and is a much softer piano led song. This is also a catchy track, and has a slight country tinge. The lyrics are a lot better here, and much more audible. The drumming is appropriate and the background guitar noise plays well into the mix. This track becomes a little repetitive to the end, but if the lyrics are listened to carefully, you can easily hear a flow and a story, which makes replays interesting and enticing. The last minute of this track hops into a great synth solo and some great guitar work.

Project Blue Part Three - The Big Fire opens much more darkly, with an interesting ambient noise and some clever guitar work. As the track continues, it becomes more rhythmically heavy and picks up a lot of momentum. Around the half way mark, the track hops into a piano and guitar chord play, and the rhythm hops at the chorus are interesting once again. This track also feels a little repetitive in sections, although the hops from section to section save it from

Project Blue Part Four - The Seduction Of Harold Lauder has some great synth/guitar chord interplay, and some fantastic drumming. A short instrumental, This track is a bit of a technical display, although a more than welcome one, featuring a stellar synth solo and a great guitar solo.

Project Blue Part Five - The Horsemen Ride opens with ambient noise, and flows into some acoustic guitar work worthy of Steve Howe. This unpredictable guitar work grows into some ethnic drumming, which is a fantastic, original and more than welcome jump of pace. The lyrics and vocals make there return here, and are at their peak in the album. This song's combination of several world music style with their own sound is fantastic, and the instrumentation compliments this great composition perfectly.

Project Blue Part Six - The Hand Of God has some incredibly dark piano, some great synth background noise and some good rhythmic work. This track is very slow in comparison to the Indian tinged The Horsemen Ride, or so it seems...? And then the opening riff of the album comes back, and kicks in your teeth with a fantastic guitar solo and some slight changes. Some of the other riffs from tracks return, but the guitar solo remains as an awesome constant.

Project Blue Part Seven - Coming Back To You is the epic's closer, sporting some lovely piano and vocals in the vein of The Beatles. The lyrics remind me of The Eagles, but they keep their originality. This is my favourite section of Project Blue, and perhaps the most realized. The lyrics are great on this track, particularly at the chorus. The synth chorus in the center is fantastic and the guitar solo which follows is just as good. The claps sound somewhat like a Gospel choir, although this track does fit that mood well - And this mood comes full circle with the women's voices which close this song in a truly epic fashion.

When The Morning Comes is a great acoustic track, made up mostly from acoustic guitar and piano. The vocal melodies are fantastic. The violin is beautiful at the choruses and the lyrics are also incredibly good, and they fit the song fantastically. These words seem to be truly from the heart, which is a really lovely thing to hear. When a band has really poured themselves into a piece of music, it shows, and in this case, it makes the track all the more interesting. This track lacks drumming, other than the soft playing in the last two minutes.

Willoughby has some lovely piano to open it up, and this continues throughout most of the track. This is the longest track on the LP, clocking in at just over 10 minutes, although this is totally justifiable, thanks to the song's diversity and originality. The rhythmic section truly shines here, and the slightly formulaic flow doesn't harm this great song in any way, but rather compliments the band's songwriting talents. This song also features one of the lovely jumps in tempo from verse to chorus and back, but this time, it seems to bear a lot more meaning, mainly because the serious mood of the verse is conversely complimented by the blissful chorus. The synth work is at its peak here, displaying massive talents across the heavy bridge. The drums and bass also work brilliantly together, playing off and complimenting eachother at every turn. After this chaotic mid- section, the softness comes back, with a soft, repeated piano rhythm and a lovely, bluesy guitar solo. That same chorus comes back shortly after, although played much slower in a way which closes it fantastically. The vocal overlaps are fantastic, and used to an appropriate level. Another incredibly melodic guitar solo closes this track. John Fontana, guitarist AND keyboardist shows off his talents on both instruments in this song, and it's hard to believe one man can pull off what two would often find near impossible to play.

Angel has a lovely, climatic riff reminiscent of Marillion, with some more lovely violin and piano playing. The lyrics here are great again, and slightly country. My favourite lyric from this album appears here, and is as follows: Fingers pointin' everywhere/ Nowhere she can hide her tears/ So she packed up all her wares and cares/ Headed for the street of broken dreams. The chorus on this song is really quite good, and helps to communicate the story of a small town girl gone wrong. This song closes quietly in a soft fashion, although a guitar solo would have been nice and appropriate given the lyrical material.

....Then In July, The Thunder Came is the last track on the album, although it feels rather anticlimactic in comparison to Angel. I think the album would have rounded out better if Angel was the closer, although this is still a great track. An orchestral sound and good guitar work help the track, although I still feel it doesn't fit in with the rest of the non-Project Blue tracks on the album. Still a good track, although not too good of a choice for a closer.

This is a fantastic effort from a great band,and although it is not without its miniscule flaws, I still can't see myself giving this one anything less than 4 stars.

-Joel

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