FLASHBACK CD REVIEWS #2 - CIRCLE II CIRCLE - THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

This review is posted as it originally appeared on the now defunct and gone Rock Is Life.com website in 2005.

Circle II Circle

The Middle of Nowhere

AFM Records - 2005

http://www.circle2circle.net

What's The 4-1-1?

Singer Zak Stevens and company are back with the follow-up CD to their 2003 debut album Watching In Silence. Available only in Europe at this time.

Genre

Metal

The Good

The music throught the album is really quite spectacular. The band consists of guitarists Andy Lee and Evan Christopher, bassist Paul M. Stewart and drummer Tom Drennan. They switch gears from the more somber or deliberate stylings to the all out speed and symphonic metal vibe with ease. The band, including Stevens really shine on tracks like "All That Remains", "Hollow", and "Psycho Motor". The vocals combined with the driving pounding rhythm really combine to make these songs soar.

The Bad

Sadly, I'm very disappointed in this album mainly due to the vocals. On most of the songs, I found myself felling that something was just "off" with the delivery of the lyrics. I found that the sequencing of the tracks could've been better. The opening track spent the first 2 1/2 minutes in a complete slow down mode, it darn near killed the entire album from me. Also, while I liked the acoustic driven ballad "Lost", I felt placing it as the final song on the disc has the album going out with more of a whimper than a roar.

The Verdict

I was highly anticipating this album, and now I'm massively disappointed. 4 songs out of 10 does not a great album make. There are times when you can fall back on blaming the producer for how an album turned out. The Middle of Nowhere was produced by vocalist Stevens, so the fault can really only be placed at his doorstep.

Did You Know?

The musicians who recorded The Middle of Nowhere, saving Zak Stevens, are an entirely different lineup from the ones who recorded the debut album Watching In Silence. Savatage members Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery assisted in the songwriting for the album.

Rating: 2 out of 5