THE FRUITS OF THE UNVEIL

CIRKUS is a progressive symphonic music group from Quebec from the city of Trois-Rivières in Canada. After a bootleg and two all excellent albums here has arrived "The Fruits Of The Unveil", an opus which remains in the same traces as the previous ones but with more research and maturity. ALAIN PROULX is at the origin of almost everything, songwriter, arranger, mixer ... The recording is done at his home in a studio, the execution is perfectly accomplished, the acoustics invite us to privacy, and the sound delivers excellent analytical and balanced effects, the pieces are mixed at high volume for better sound reproduction, and some passages have required up to 18 tracks! The production without a label has not been criticized. My first chronicle made for this group a year ago with "Voodooland" made me discover lands which I was not used to traveling, a sort of entry into a sphere where the voices contrast strongly with the proposed musical refinement. It is not a question here of growl, but of omnipresent songs with very masculine aspects being transformed by deliberately crazy passages, a kind of controlled and assumed slippage, but with a little redundant side sometimes ... Indeed, this quartet us delivers here as in their previous album theatrical scores, cinematographic effects, and expressionist scents ... because this work often presents a high level of dissonance, dynamic contrast, constant changes of textures, as well as melodies and distorted harmonies. The vocal ranges are similar to MORISSEY (THE SMITHS), PETER MURPHY (BAUHAUS), PETER HAMILL (VDGG) or even DAVID BOWIE. The instrumental is largely represented by the influences of GENESIS and YES in bits and pieces. The texts are full of poetry and speak to us, among other things, of redemption in pain, of certainty in the beauty of light and of the heavens, of fallen angels and of the evil one ... but with hope as a central point. Let's see more closely if these fruits will reveal some little gourmet secrets ... A small farandole "mellotronée" begins "Alternate Pleasures", a deep and uncompromising voice urges us to succumb to tribal temptations and to give free rein to our follies. A pretty melody then comes to titillate our ears with a tempered keyboard reworked by a bouncy orchestration and a bit playful. The song becomes soft and harmonious like a liberation going to a bonfire beaten by a voodoo and frenzied rhythm. Thanks to the words and the tone used, this piece gives off a feeling of heightened awareness, a highlighting of the reality of our contained and unfulfilled aspirations, a cinematic scenario superbly produced thanks to miryads of keyboards and deeply true and authentic songs! (9/10). A faltering voice on the verge of rupture approaches us with "Intimate Behaviors" and speaks to us of unchanging and indestructible love. The mouths suddenly stop to make way for a fast and heavy guitar well brought up, taken up by a jubilant corpus ... mellotron, keyboards, multilayer vocals. The harmonies fly high in the sky with throats which sing like MAMAS AND THE PAPAS thus transmitting all the essence of a successful piece! The end will be repeated with the same verses and almost in the same tone as at the beginning (8.5 / 10). "Room With a View" is a lament recounting the inner torments of man freeing himself from all grip after having faced evil incarnate, it is also a modern waltz with a successful chorus, classic flights to the DVORAK, subscriber arrangements in GENESIS, a thetral voice like PETER GABRIEL, and a casket with the intonations of MORISSEY. The ensemble administers a particularly original and pleasant piece (8.5 / 10). "Winding Streams" invites us with a beautiful little poem to believe in the strength of life and the hopes of the heart, illustrated by a short, simple and melodic, but endearing song (7/10). "Red Moon on Black Church" begins as a Brazilian samba with a "Santanesque" sound, a monotonous voice poetic about the moment of death, a well-turned verse calls out to me: "We are naked, freed from lust". .. A lento and acid guitar plays in the background, the arrangement becomes solemn and delivers a sad and moving Brazilian air, the tone and the tempo given resemble a funeral march, one cannot say that the joy and the good mood are in order here! (7.5 / 10). In "Highly Blinded Faiths" C. LUCAS PROULX welcomes us gently with around him growls and voices overhanging his low and harmonious timbre until 2:30. This melodic passage could have been played like pop music with a hit, but here it will be necessary to listen to the full potential of this chorus and its arrangements hidden by a kind of artistic vagueness admirably consu, but which could have been repetitive for once ...! A small minimalist rock tune with an organ as a fulcrum will continue its progression towards a striking and rare contrast like an alarm coming from the heavens, interrupted by the breath of the angels ... and yes only that! The initial chorus will be replayed in skipping mode and closed by rhythmic guitars in the style of LA BATTERIA (9/10). "A Moment in Time" is a short little melody sung with a lot of grace accompanied by synths and mellotron, an interlude where the poetry is inscribed in a parable (7/10). "The Woods of Given Death" is a new lament with more or less harmonious songs, a guitaristic part à la PINK FLOYD will come to decorate this sullen and bloodless score. The extreme is not always where you think you will find it, and I think that here we have reached the climax of despair ... Intrinsically this piece is not bad but it does not fit my strings ... (6/10). "Toss a Coin" arrives in jerks and is synchronized with the well articulated organ of our crooner, helped by his colleagues thus delivering the verses one by one, followed by synths to the sounds of JEAN-MICHEL JARRE in rhythm with a placed drums well ahead. The corpus gets carried away and we play arpeggios with two guitars to conclude this admirably executed jet in style! (8.5). " "Upward to Know" begins cheerfully with a fast cadence over female "mellotronous" vocals. The song, always so solemn, evokes us legions of archangels (I suppose) leaving to pour out hope and mercy on the earth ... This title evokes the firmament by carrying us very high with a particularly expressive and well supported voice. , supported by sublime keyboards and a guitar that flies away in dazzling arpeggios as could do STEVE HACKETT (8,5). This work will disorient more than one listener at the first listening, it will be necessary to be patient and to search well, because here nothing is left to chance, everything is calculated and carefully arranged for a progressive discovery, as well in the texts than in musical harmonies. Poems with highly spiritual biblical tinsel that will have to be peeled with precision to extract all the tenor, refined chords highlighted by raw voices like wood giving the impression that it is still alive. This feeling that the main leitmotif is contrast, as if the group wanted to bring up the musical essence through perfectly controlled vocal exaggerations. CIRKUS gives us what it can do, and it does it like a group among the greats. Excellent discoveries in perspective, good listening!

Cirkus's most recent album " The Fruits of the Unveil" is my favorite Cirkus album so far. I put "The Fruits of the Unveil" as my 4th favorite album from 2020 I personally love and appreciate all their albums but this one has to be my favorite. The keyboards and guitars are especially great here. Beautiful melodies are found throughout this masterpiece. You won't ever get board because Cirkus seems to always finds a way to make each song sound fresh and unique. Vocals aren't perfect but they are fine. I would highly recommend that everyone heard this album! Especially if you like symphonic prog rock.