Savage Circus

Dreamland Manner (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff

If you like your Blind Guardian-esque metal without the swooping highs and lows and feats of derring-do, then look to the cheeky audacity of its drummer and now former drummer Thomen “The Omen” Stauch to deliver the pure and blurry tincture. Stacking this thing like a baseball team going for the pennant late in the season, Stauch enlists Iron Savior technician Piet Sielck, and two guys from Swedish band Persuader to make a statement, that being Blind Guardian wasn’t rocking fast enough to keep him from snoozing off on the stool. Underscoring the comparative, one of the Persuaders is vocalist Jens Carlsson, who sounds like a slightly less arcane Hansi. Then the bunch endeavors to clone the classic mid-years Blind Guardian anthems of Stratovarius anthem-like velocity. The Hysteria-meets-ProTools production, the lightning-quick picking, the Surroundsound vocal arrangements (solo mixed with “choirs” at will, all over), the epic melodies. it’s all here and relentless and exhilarating. I’m feeling some concern while reviewing this at the height of my morning coffee high. Savage Circus is a stupid name, but that’s the only stumble here, unless, of course, you find the whole thing toweringly unimaginative or, I dunno, redundant.
(www.centurymedia.com)