Circus Maximus' current line-up consists of Michael Eriksen (vocals), Truls Haugen (drums), Mats Haugen (guitars), Glen Mollen (bass) and the new addition, Lasse Finbrate (keyboard) replacing Espen Storo.

"Isolate" kicks off with "A Darkened Mind", a song that seems to have been structured to fit in those massive sing-along choruses that we all love. A decent start, but at this point the music doesn't seem too interesting yet. But as the album progresses, it takes its course and by the time you're into the third song "Wither", you'll see how the music is not as generic as you might have imagined it to be. They seem to have dropped the Neo-classical/Symphony X sound and traded it in for some tasty 80s Hair/AOR sounding sections.

The change in personnel seems to have brought in some decent keyboard solos and even whole songs that are keyboard-oriented.

"Sane to More" is the virtuoso instrumental track and one of the highights of the album. "Arrival of Love" is one of my favourite songs on this album. The beginning of the song could be mistaken for a Whitesnake song and it goes off into a series of classic progressive metal parts reminiscent of early Dream Theater and even Queensryche occasionally.

The ballad "Zero", although well written and composed, doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album and slows down the momentum quite a bit. The next song, "Mouth of Madness"  takes quite a bit of time to really get back to the usual speed. Irreversible damage, some might say. But if you have the patience to stick around without skipping to the next track, you'll be in for some treat, as mid-way through this song, the band breaks into a totally rocking doom/sludge section. Then at around 9 mins, the song takes a gloomy turn and starts to drag a bit.

"From Childhood's hour" is a very modern AOR sounding song that concentrates more on Michael Eriksen's vocal abilities and he manages to do a stellar job with his Roy khan/Joey Tempest-like singing.

The Scandinavian Progressive Metal boom has brought us some very competent and original music of late. Surely, there have been instances where the scene has been, ironically, branded generic and stereotypical. At a time like this comes Circus Maximus, who may not have re-invented the wheel, but have been keeping the progressive fans interested by subtly fusing in new elements into their music and keeping it fresh.  It would be safe to say that the band, on its second release, has evolved as musicians and the music definetly shows more maturity and a strong song-writing formula. Also, Mats Haugen's guitar playing is something to watch out for.

Year - 2007
Label - Sensory Records