THE CIRCLE OF MADNESS

There are fourteen musicians who participate on this record, of course the majority are guests, but this shows the variety and fullness of sound that is produced by KAOS MOON. The most appealing thing about this band for me is their singer, who reminds me very much of the singer for THE WATCH. The music they create is quite catchy almost poppy with plenty of guitar and some great bass playing. There are just so many instruments involved including church organ and hammond organ, moog, cello, violin, sax, grand piano and on and on.

"Eternal Light Avenue" is an awesome song, with a great chorus, including soaring guitar and guitar solos."Say To Me" features hammond organ and sax and the amazing vocals of Bernard. "Crawl" is a little poppy, but still good. "The Waves" is another highlight, a mellow song with beautiful piano, violin and keyboards. Another good song is "Soab" and it's all about the vocals on this one. "Presidency" is an anti-Bush rant that I don't appreciate, yet goes with the theme of the next song "Circle of Madness" suggesting that many of the world leaders are lunatics.

This is an good release of well done songs, that will for the most part brighten your day.

The Montreal group Kaos Moon plays an elaborate form of rock with pop and progressive overtones. Its focus is on the melodic voice of Bernard Ouelette and intricate but warm accompaniment. Nothing clinical here. Ouellette seems to hold most of the cards in the musical area as he plays over a dozen instruments. I am not sure how Kaos Moon got their name but the generally brief instrumental flourishes and irregular harmonies do seem a bit chaotic in nature, generally in a good way.

While "Eternal Light Avenue" and "Say to Me" introduce the style fairly representatively, they are actually somewhat languid and the choruses seem a bit trite. "Crawl", "The Waves" and "Wall of Silence", and the title cut all better represent the band's ability to be accessible yet intellectual musically and lyrically. "The Presidency" does not even bring Bush haters on board, and is just too direct in its messages, substituting political opinion for creativity.

An album I can recommend to the mad or clear thinking as long as they don't mind coming full circle. It will be interesting to track the evolution of Kaos Moon, and I hope they start putting out more than one album a decade.

At this pace, the next album will be released in 2014

Coming exactly ten years after the excellent debut album After The Storm, Kaos Moon's second album sounds like it was made by a completely different group. And to a large extent it seems that it actually is an almost completely different group. Compared to the sound of After The Storm, the nature of The Circle Of Madness is much more whimsical and laid back. The edge of the former album is lost on the present album. Also, while After The Storm featured predominately modern keyboards, The Circle Of Madness features more vintage keyboards and a plethora of acoustic instruments.

Both albums are very enjoyable in their own respective ways, but for me the 1994 debut far outshines this follow-up. Or, at least, the debut is much more to my personal taste. I'm sure other Prog fans would make the opposite judgment. The Circle Of Madness is a pleasant and eclectic Pop Prog album that might well appeal very much to some people.

Good, but somewhat disappointing after the excellent After The Storm.