The Circus Maximus can simply be described as "Manilla Road's Seventh Star". It was the side project Mark Shelton formed after disbanding Manilla Road. This was going to be labeled as a Mark Shelton solo project but after the stronger contributions from the other two bandmates, the Shark insisted this should be a band rather than a solo artist and named themselves The Circus Maximus. However, when it came to release, Black Dragon Records shoved the name Manilla Road on the album just so they'd get more sales on the record. That didn't do well, though since the album shows this was never intended to be a Manilla Road album. However, you will get a track or two where you can relate it to Mark Shelton's main band. The songs with Shelton on vocals are generally the better songs on the album. The rest don't sound that focused and seem to be contributing to something else rather than this album. This is only recommended for the hardcore fans.
Forbidden Zone has Mark Shelton as the only vocalist in this song and the atmosphere of the song is a big surprise. This sounds like it came from an album that had a mixture of The Courts of Chaos and The Deluge which isn't what you'd expect when the band had no intentions to sound like Manilla Road. The song starts off with a clean guitar intro which is something you'd expect to hear from the 'Road. There's plenty of great guitar work to be found here whether it's the leading riffs or the grand solo halfway. The mid section even takes it time to have a highly audible bass and this is a goldmine. The chorus is definitely one to sing to. It'll make you mystified but it does take you to the darkest place that no-one should dare enter. In conclusion, Forbidden Zone is the ultimate saviour for The Circus Maximus. This may have not been a great side project but at least it had a beautiful and epic song like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment