Day Twenty-Eigth - December 28th, 2013
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
Isolate by
Circus Maximus (recommended by Fission)
1.
A Darkened Mind
2.
Abyss
3. Wither
4. Sane No More
5. Arrival of Love
6. Zero
7.
Mouth of Madness
8. From Childhood's Hour
9.
Ultimate Sacrifice
I'm always up for some Norwegian progressive metal. Been listening to Leprous'
Coal recently and I love Arcturus (particularly
The Sham Mirrors), have also some Green Carnation, Borknagar and In Vain on my iTunes and Enslaved is easily one of the best metal band from the last years. So I was expecting something. Circus Maximus is one of many bands I've heard of before but never actually bother to listen. They are around since the year 2000 and have produced so far 3 LPs.
Isolate is their second album and went out in 2007.
Dream Theater meets Angra with Queensr˙che and Orphaned Land in the backstage. Not really what I was hoping for. Firstly, I'm not into the super-clean high pitch type of vocals here. It's so pristine that it lefts me indifferent. Secondly, the more I listened to it, the more I realized I'm not a huge fan of power metal anymore. So, when it's leaning on the progressive side, that's where I found the most pleasure. Thirdly, ballads are cliché (hear
Zero). They never sound sincere to me and they probably never will.
The voice at the beginning of
A Darkened Mind reminded me of Roy Khan (ex-Kamelot). Guitar work is amazing. I could get without the 80s heavy metal chorus, same with
Abyss.
Sane No More, the only instrumental song, starts with an extremely bizarre chugging sequence. Rest of the song is decent and showcase the musicianship of the band finely. Introduction of
Arrival of Love is absolutely tacky and sounds like a relic of the past.
Mouth of Madness, on the other hand, is the hightlight of the album. Around 6 minutes in, it turns into an awesome strong symphonic choral. Too bad I didn't see any of that elsewhere.
Ultimate Sacrifice is another interesting song with a very nice orchestral ending.
I found few moments I liked in this. It ends up as a middle-of-the-road progressive album.
My rating :
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆