There are quite a few "love it or hate it" genres within the realm of hard rock and heavy metal, but undoubtedly toward the top on the list is prog metal.
Depending on your musical preference, the style is either a pretentious bloated dinosaur or a platform to showcase exceptional instrumental chops and difficult song structures.
Norway's Circus Maximus certainly believe in the latter description, as evidenced by their 2007 sophomore full-length, Isolate.
Sounding very much like Dream Theater -- especially singer Michael Eriksen, whose vocals contain more than a passing resemblance to James LaBrie -- Circus Maximus are a group of gentlemen who can undoubtedly play Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt.
1 backward and forward (heck, one-time Helloween producer Tommy Hansen even produced Isolate).
Songs such as the album-opening "A Darkened Mind," "Wither," and "From Childhood's Hour..." show that Circus Maximus fit comfortably between the likes of Iced Earth and Symphony X.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Darkened MindCircus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 05:33 | 12 MB | 40 MB |
| 2 | AbyssCircus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 05:00 | 11 MB | 37 MB |
| 3 | WitherCircus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 04:46 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 4 | Arrival of LoveCircus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 5 | ZeroCircus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 04:49 | 11 MB | 29 MB |
| 6 | From Childhood's Hour...Circus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 04:28 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 7 | Ultimate SacrificeCircus Maximus | Circus Maximus | Play | 09:17 | 21 MB | 65 MB |
| 8 | Sane To More | Circus Maximus | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 29 MB |
| 42 mins | 96 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 303 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Circus Maximus | Composer, Primary Artist |
| 2 | Michael Eriksen | Group Member, Screams, Vocal Harmony, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 3 | Tommy Hansen | Audio Production, Mastering, Mixing |
| 4 | Mattias Norén | Artwork, Layout Design |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |