NMC # 161 CIRCA ZERO/MIRACLE MASTER

[RJhog (Admin)]

1. Underground

2. Say Goodnight

3. Night Time Travelers

4. Underwater

5. No Highway

6. Come Alive

7. Fly Away

8. Stay With Me

9. Highway To Heaven

10. We All Touch Evil

[Gordon Williams]

I'm liking both of these. Starting my 3rd listen through right now. The Circa Zero has a lot of melody.

First tune is a strong vocal tune, with good harmony. Sounds like the guitar has some kind of effect on it. Maybe some wah-wah? Definitely sounds like wah-wah on the lead in the middle. Very good lead, and a nice track overall.

Track two sounds a lot like The Police to me...but not in a bad, or rip-off way. Especially vocally, and the reggae-ish rhythm guitar. Another nice lead, with a pretty sweet tone, in the middle section. Honestly, I've never been into The Police that much, and I'd say I enjoy this better than most Police tracks.

Track three continues The Police vibe for me. But much better lead guitar present here than on Police music. Another nice wah-wah lead. Very different kind of section starts soon after the lead. Heavy on percussion during this section, and the vocals sound like many voices recorded together during this section. Overall, not that strong of a track for me...but not that bad, either.

Really like the up-tempo opening section of track 4. Slows down as soon as the vocals start, and there's that reggae-ish guitar for a little bit again. The second verse of this track has some really nice guitar fills between vocal lines. And now another good lead. This track did not need those keyboards, though (IMHO).

This 5th and final track for Circa Zero immediately gives me a U2 vocal vibe. Really like the chorus on this one, both vocally and musically. Overall, a very enjoyable listen. Don't think I'll "seek it", but if I see it for a good price, I might purchase it.

Now, this Miracle Master? Right up my alley, boys! Chock full of smokin' lead guitar! Already interested in buying this bad boy.

First track has a nice main riff. Not that crazy about the chorus, but it's a shredder of a lead, with awesome tone. The guitarist is switching during the lead between his treble and rhythm pick-ups. Sounds good!

Second track has me thinking it's better than the first track right off the bat. Sounds like the guitar is double tracked through a lot of this...even on the rhythm sections...which you don't hear that often. Diggin' the production on this CD. Another awesome lead. I'm getting this, if for nothing else than the lead guitar work. Like the "slowdown breakdown" section about two-thirds of the way through the song, before it picks back up.

Track three, once the main, heavy riff kicks in...just kicks arse! Killer, heavy, main riff. Best chorus so far. The lead on this one starts off slower, but the shreddage does kick in. Some really nice tempo and style changes through this track.

Loving this intro for track 4. Nice, slow, and melodic, with a great blues feel. And even a little slide guitar. Then...the heaviness kicks in, and the groove has me head banging! Probably the best track here for me. Really, really like the rhythm riffage behind the middle lead section on this one.

Track five gives us a "change of pace" on the intro. Nice touch adding a little piano here. Now, see...this is the kind of keyboard addition I can dig. Nice and tasteful, but it does n't override the guitar or vocals. Very, very interesting lead section on this one. The slower parts are very melodic, and double tracked...or at least 2 guitars playing the same part. But between the melodic lead parts, some nice shreddage, and it goes back to just one guitar. My guess is this band only has 1 guitarist, but they've double tracked some parts. Sounds cool to me.

Really good NMC post! One definite purchase, and one possible purchase.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Truth be told, the Miracle Master was a downloaded purchase via Amazon.  I had a credit and it was only 4 bucks.  And it was definitely 4 bucks well spent, probably worth purchasing the physical CD.  It is a bit expensive as new, but a used copy can be had for about 16 bucks.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Miracle Master was good enough for me to purchase the physical CD as well, so now I've purchased it twice. Gordon, I was just curious if you ever picked this up?

[Jon]

Circa Zero--Thumbs Up

The singer sounds like a cross between Sting & Bono, so he needs to change his name to Robbo. The geetar™ was not what I was expecting, much heavier than I thought it would be, but not "metal" heavy. Gordon's right, some of these songs have a Police-vibe, but it's not bad at all. Good listen. 

[Jon]

Miracle Master--Thumbs in the middle

Cool album cover. The geetar™ has a Zakk Wylde feel, especially with the "WHRRRR" parts, and there's lot of 'em. This isn't bad, but it's not really some thing new. The songer sounds like a ton of other singers out there, so nothing new there either. 

So, if I was forced to buy one of these, it would be Circa Hero.  

[Scott]

CIRCA ZERO ... Thumbs up!!

Must admit to being pleasantly surprised by this.  Fun opening track.  Though Rob Giles of the Rescues gets the same font size as Andy Summers on the cover?  Never heard of him, but ok...  I'm not buying this because Rob Giles of The Rescues, just sayin' if they're searching for impulse buys that may get you one or two, but, oh nevermind!  Love the Roxanne geetar in the second track, nice homage.  Night Time Travelers is really nice, my favorite so far and has a geetar solo in it, something I'm not use to hearing from Summers, it not blistering or anything but it had a hint of that Thin Lizzy sound in it (and trust me I've been on a Thin Lizzy kick all day so its fresh in my mind!).  Underwater is the filler here, its not bad but compared to the first 3 tracks, not up to my growing expectations.  No Highway was better.  3.5 out of 5.  I like this, but Im not sure it would get air time in my collection.  I need to revisit this for a second chance listen...

[Jon]

[Scott]

Must admit to being pleasantly surprised by this.  Fun opening track.  Though Rob Giles of the Rescues gets the same font size as Andy Summers on the cover?  Never heard of him, but ok...  I'm not buying this because Rob Giles of The Rescues, just sayin' if they're searching for impulse buys that may get you one or two, but, oh nevermind!  Love the Roxanne geetar in the second track, nice homage.  Night Time Travelers is really nice, my favorite so far and has a geetar solo in it, something I'm not use to hearing from Summers, it not blistering or anything but it had a hint of that Thin Lizzy sound in it (and trust me I've been on a Thin Lizzy kick all day so its fresh in my mind!).  Underwater is the filler here, its not bad but compared to the first 3 tracks, not up to my growing expectations.  No Highway was better.  3.5 out of 5.  I like this, but Im not sure it would get air time in my collection.  I need to revisit this for a second chance listen...

[Jon]