Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Trieste / Macaki klub / Italy
Concert date: 24.09.2013
Attendance: 170
Circus Maximus are a Norwegian outfit who back in 2005 caught everyone pleasantly, even rather unexpectedly, off guard with their studio debut »The 1st Chapter« and straight away vaulted into the ranks of the big young hopes who were supposed to take over as the lead ambassadors of modern progressive metal. After just two years came the album »Isolate« (2007), which defined the musical path of Circus Maxlmus even more sharply, with even more clearly profiled arrangements that squeezed huge expressive power out of marrying highly singable melodies with compositional complexity. In December of that same year, way back in 2007, Circus Maximus swung through the Italian border town of Ronke, right next to the Trieste airport, as part of their tour. If any of you happened to catch them then, you were treated to a top-notch display of Scandinavian musical perfectionism.
Five years have passed since. Five solid years before the band finally coughed up a third studio album. Needless to say, the wait was more than worth it. »Nine« cements the position of Circus Maximus, who proved with this record that they still sit at the very top of the most listenable prog metal bands around. If we focus only on the Scandinavian current of progressive metal acts, we can say Circus Maximus are right at the peak of accessibility for the layperson’s ear, and it wouldn’t be a big mistake to stretch that to the whole European progressive metal scene.
So it finally happened: the Norwegian masters of the melodic strain of progressive metal set off on a European tour, short but sweet. The lineup is Mikael Eriksen (vocals), Mats Haugen (guitar), Lasse Finbråten (keyboards), Glen Cato Møllen (bass) and Truls Haugen (drums). It took them a long time to put out the new album. But they did. And it also took almost six years for them to get close to our neck of the woods again. In 2007 they played Ronke (Ronchi dei Legionari), and now they’ve landed in Trieste. Thanks to one single man. For the second time! The one and only Max and the Trieste is Rock crew, who organized a whole mini-festival at the Trieste club Macaki. Hats off to Max. There are few people as big-hearted, as sincere, and who believe as deeply as he does in the singular, universal power of truth that the magic of music carries within it. A shining example that even in a land swallowed long ago by the darkness of greedy »Orcs«, gray and white wizards, ents, elves and other wonderful creatures are still alive and well.
But let’s take it from the top. First on stage were the Italian, Trieste-born to be exact, heavy metal revivalists Blue Rose, presenting their new studio album »Darkness and Light«. Flowing riffs, solid playing, a bit static since the lead vocalist is also the guitarist, but well within the limits of decent quality. A dark grip of the occult, caught without a speck of sugar. Playing full throttle, with generous help from a very good sound backdrop courtesy of the sound techs. A really nice way to kick things off.
The Swiss band Appearance Of Nothing put out their current studio album »All Gods Are Gone« in 2010. That record beefed up their form, which in general is still very loose. Above all, the Swiss showed up on it in a much more aggressive and darker light, even mildly gothic. You could say that working with the renowned, legendary producer Dan Swanö was hugely useful. The lineup of Pat Gerbe (vocals, guitar), Omar Cuna (vocals, bass), Peter Berger (guitar), Marc Petralito (keyboards) and Ronnie Wolf (drums) opened the show with vehemence. Lots of long, multi-part compositions with shifting moods. Above all, we got a constant mix of vocal colors, from throaty singing and clean vocals to extreme growling. Sadly, the band didn’t get the spotlight they deserved that night. The sound was a catastrophe, and all you could hear were the drums and the double bass pedal, at a hair-raising volume that was just plain irritating. The guitars were indistinct and muffled, and not even the »eight-string oar« helped one bit. Even though the band tried with all their heart and squeezed out their evening’s maximum, in the given circumstances they couldn’t deliver anything more than lukewarm post-gig feelings.
DGM! No joking around with this band. They released a new studio album this March titled »Momentum«. The lighting guy and the sound guy were clearly rooting for the home side that night. First off, DGM got much better stage lighting than Appearance of Nothing and even Circus Maximus after them. On top of that, they got an immaculately calibrated sound again, just like the opener Blue Rose. DGM delivered an excellent show. They’re sort of a scaled-down Italian version of Symphony X. Of course they can’t play and arrange at the level Symphony X do today, but the influences are all over the place. Keyboards in the role of an orchestra, guitar riffs mercilessly sharp and roughly honed, and distortion so heavy that even a single-string picked arpeggio drives a proper massive wall of sound into the core of the mix. Michael Romeao (Symphony X) has been using that trick for years too. Add in, of course, the obligatory escapades straight out of the neo-classical school’s drill book. The new Reason confirmed that very clearly, for instance. DGM are a quintet with the excellent guitarist Simone Mularoni (guitar), Andrea Arcangeli (bass), Fabio Costantino (drums), Emanuele Casali (keyboards) and the fired-up Mark Basile (Mind’s Key) on vocals. DGM got the crowd on its feet, and the club finally came properly to a boil for the first time. We got the newest Trust, the opening Void, then Numb, Universe, Remembrance, and further on the older Hereafter (at the end) and before it Brand New Blood and No Looking Back.
The Norwegians Circus Maximus, in the role of the evening’s headliners, are a chapter of their own. Their perfectionism has delivered a run of three excellent studio achievements. Between the latest album and the first two there’s a real gap in how they deliver artistry, as perceived through the musical prism of Circus Maximus. As expected, they played almost the whole new album »Nine (2012). Great sound, great performance and a great vocal interpretation from the charismatic Mikael Eriksen. His voice held at a top level from the start of the show to the very end. But above all, the crowd went nuts for the classics from the album »Isolation« (2007)! They hadn’t forgotten them! Those are considerably more listenable than the songs on the latest album »Nine«, which has a lot more progressive »screw-twisting«, while still keeping the essence of highly infectious melody. The band also served up an exceptional »sweet treat« in the form of a first-class surprise when they tackled the song Glory Of Empire. It’s the best composition on the studio debut » The 1st Chapter«, released back in 2005. Just by putting this song in the set at the Trieste club Macaki, Circus Maximus walked out of the ring as the big winners of the night. It’s fun to watch the interplay between band members in such a cramped club and on such a tiny stage, where they literally have nowhere to retreat or hide, and everything is laid out in plain view. Eriksen is an excellent commander, the crowd ate out of his hand, and at the same time carried the band on its wings by knowing every word, especially the chorus melodies. This time nothing could possibly go wrong. The high point came at the end, when Circus Maximus dug into the most interesting part of their new record »Nine« and played both of the album’s last songs back to back, Burn After Reading and the meaningfully titled Last Goodbye, wrapping up a set they’d tackled with huge fire..
We can say that the mini-festival, dedicated to the face and work of modern progressive metal, was a smash in the heart of Trieste. The genre is a bit out of the mass spotlight these days, but not in Italy. Italian audiences have always appreciated a tasteful blend of big melodies and tunes with a complex seasoning of adventurous musical ideas, the kind created by the realm of the genre weighed down with the adjective »progressive«. Seven shows with as many as four stops on Italian soil, one gig in Germany and one in Slovakia, and a finale in Pratteln, Switzerland! That fact alone shows that these aren’t exactly the best of times for progressive metal. But as has happened countless times before. In the metal underground there’s a rule that demand for genres circulates in multi-year cycles. So progressive metal will surely come back someday! It’s far from dead and can’t be. As long as the people of Trieste have »double X« in their ranks. Max, that is, who once again pulled off the Circus Maximus show organizationally with great distinction and total dedication.
Setlist
BLUE ROSE:
1. Leavin’ You
2. Reloaded
3. Rock Your Soul
4. Darkness And Light
5. rUN
6. Wasted
7. The Land Of The Light
8. Power
APPEARANCE OF NOTHING:
1. Mirror’s Eyes
2. Second God
3. Destination
4. The Seer
5. I Said Silence
6. the Call of Evil
CIRCUS MAXIMUS:
1. Forging
2. Architect of Fortune
3. Namaste
4. I Am
5. Darkened Mind
6. Abyss
7. Reach Within
8. Game of Life
9. Glory of the Empire
10. Arrival of Love
11. Burn After Reading
12. Last Goodbye
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