THE 1ST CHAPTER

Circus Maximus is a group that I approached with a little of hesitation, both because most of the post-1990 metal leaves me uninterested, if not disgusted (yes, I'm still stuck in the 80s when it comes to Metal, I must admit), and because some confused and superficial listening I gave made them appear to me as a botched copy of Dream Theater. Since, however, you do not judge what you do not know, I decided to give "The 1st Chapter" a full listen, which debunked some ideas I had about them and confirmed others.

The disc opens with "Sin", where immediately appears the appreciation that the group has for Scenes From a Memory. Here, however, the clear DT-ish influences are proposed in a more melodic way, with pieces that remind me of Sonata Artica (that I don't really like), and a brilliant voice that "fits perfectly" with the music.

"Alive" carries on with the style of the first song: a modern symphonic metal, not surely my cup of tea, but that never appears banal, thanks to the progressive elements. The timbre of the singer also reminds me a lot of Midnight, the voice of Crimson Glory (progressive metal band of the 80s) who died in 2009.

It's the turn of "The Glory of the Empire", where I can hear a lot of Symphony X'V reminiscences. Yes, this band doesn't appear to be very innovative and original, and this may be an issue for somebody, but I usually judge a group by the music it offers, not on the degree of originality or innovation. There is nothing wrong to pay tribute to a band or a genre you like, if this generates good music. With Biosfear we have a 5 minutes instrumental track. If you didn't know Circus Maximus were originally a Dream Theater cover band, after listening to this song it will appear to you as clear as daylight. Seriously, here the legacy of our friends from New York gets quite obvious, but this instrumental is very well played (the whole album has a fine technique in it) and very enjoyable, for sure the best track so far. Yes, because we also have some nice Zappa-flavoured solos in this Beyond This Life, and the group... Oh wait.

"Silence From Angels Above" is the model of song I usually skip, as it includes sounds that, as I said, just do not belong to me, even if I recognise the quality of the track and the ability of the singer on this type of song.

Let's go back on track with what I consider one of the best songs on the album, "Why Am I Here". Here the whole group, especially the guitarist Mats Haugen, shows his appreciation for an album called Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, by a little-known group from New York. The song is, as mentioned above, one of my favorites in here, since it is melodic but in a way I really like, and, though it's not King Crimson, it appears pretty inspired and fresh.

The quality raises again with "The Prophecy", a very good guitar-voice intro that leads into one of the best pieces I've ever heard among this genre, with an almost pop/AOR chorus and a great arrangement full of prog elements. After an average start, these two songs appear like fresh air, and ... here comes the epic! Every note of the first 4 minutes of "1st Chapter" shouts "Symphony X" loud right in my ears, but I decide to carry on listening not caring about them. In fact the song is pretty good, though not being so awesome as I expected from a 19 min-long title track. The song flows for his entire duration without particularly capturing my mind, and leaves me a bit disappointed after two very good songs. Good track, with few interesting points, but quite average overall. The last song on the album, "Imperial Destruction", has a very interesting initial riff, but fails to amaze me. I don't know what to write about this, just an average song.

So, listening to "The 1st Chapter", as I said earlier, has led some denials and some confirmations in me. Originality does not appear as a main quality of the group (or, at least, in this album), that shows a sound very inspired by late 90s/00s progressive metal (where Dream Theater and Symphony X are the biggest examples). Of course, everyone has their influences, the band never falls completely in plagiarism, and although sometimes these "tributes" to their beloved bands may seem annoying, I think in most cases they just make the album more enjoyable to those who are already accustomed to certain type of music. However, in addition to the strong progressive element, this album owes much to a certain type of (mostly scandinavian) melodic metal, that unfortunately reduces my appreciation to the whole work, but this is my opinion and the songs are well written and played, so if you like this type of metal more than me you will surely enjoy this debut a lot. About me, "The 1st Chapter" does not appears certainly in my top 20, but when I'm in a modern-styled melodic prog metal mood, it's able to give me 70 minutes of enjoyable music. Despite my jokes about their similarity with Dream Theater and Symphony X, I don't consider C.M. a clone of this or that band and I think a 3.5 stars rating will be appropriate.