Monday 17 October 2011

Week 42: Savage Circus - Waltz of the Demon



The artist: Savage Circus was founded by former Blind Guardian drummer Thomas Stauch after his disatisfaction with the new musical direction with Blind Guardian. He formed the band with Iron Savior and Persuader members including Iron Savior guitarist Piet Sielck (who traits all the way back to Kai Hansen with Gentry in 1978) and Persuader vocalist Jens Carlsson. From this band, Thomas Stauch wanted the band to sound like Blind Guardian during the Imaginations From the Other Side days. Sadly, after one album Thomas fell to long term sickness and eventually leave Savage Circus, thus defeating the main reason to even form this band in the first place.

The album: Dreamland Manor is Savage Circus' first album containing many great power metal tracks such as the speed metal opener Evil Eyes, the album's ballad Beyond Reality and slightly more complex tracks with Ghost Story and Waltz of the Demon. With Jens' voice sounding very much like Hansi Kursch and Persuader's musical style being similar to Blind Guardian, this is the ideal album for Thomas Stauch and how he wanted to sound mid era Blind Guardian. This may be a Blnd Guardian rip off but this was formed by a former member of the band so there's every right to immitate their style with this album.

The song: Waltz of the Demon starts off with a dark acoustic intro speaking about solitude and illusions. The song strikes with a heavy riff that can rival with the heaviness Blind Guardian provided in Follow the Blind. The prebridge, bridge and chorus sections shows some multi-layering that Blind Guardian (again) have done with the later albums but it all works here. The true highlight of the song is the section after the second time the prebridge-bridge-chorus part is played. Emil Norberg (of Persuader) and Piet Sielck play along together on their guitars for some impressive solos but it isn't too long when the song gets even heavier at 5 minutes in with a crushing riff and yet more solos. The song required to repeat the prebridge-bridge-chorus one more time to finish things off. Overall, Waltz of the Demon offers different sections of the song that make it worth listening to over and over again and if you're one of those who aren't fond of Blind Guardian's music post-Nightfall, hopefully this makes up for the wind of change in Hansi Kursch's band.

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