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This Is A Good CD- But Not Great. It Is Heavier Than The Three Previous Releases. It's Not A Bad Cd Just Not As Much Melody As Before. I Would Still Buy It.
If you like Savatage you will love this band. This is a very good Metal band that has a vocalist with a power voice box. Excellent CD for any Metal fan. My favorite song is Echoes just listen to the samples and you'll will know what I mean. Another thing you can understand every word he says.
2008's Delusions of Grandeur is the fourth album from melodic heavy metal band Circle II Circle, the band formed by former Savatage vocalist Zak Stevens. Between this album and the recently released Jon Oliva's Pain album Global Warning, Savatage fans have a lot to be happy about in 2008. Heaviness aside, the presence of Zak Stevens and his uniquely powerful vocals are what makes this an unmistakable Circle II Circle album.
It's similar to the heavy-hitting power metal of Symphorce and Brainstorm in many ways. I can't help but miss the more melodic sound of Burden of Truth and Watching in Silence, as those are my favorite Circle II Circle releases. I heard the band play some of the material from this album a few months earlier, so I thought I knew what to expect, but I think I underestimated just how HEAVY Delusions of Grandeur would be.Delusions of Grandeur is easily Circle II Circle's heaviest album, and after the more melodic Burden of Truth it comes as a bit of a shock.
The man has never sounded better, and with each new album he becomes a better songwriter. There are a lot of crushing, thrash-like riffs, and the keyboard elements are kept to a bare minimum. Songs like Seclusion and Echoes have that classic Circle II Circle/Savatage sound, but for the most part heavy is definitely the order of the day.
Still, Delusions of Grandeur is a very impressive album, and a worthy addition to the Circle II Circle discography. I know I'm looking forward to seeing both bands perform at this year's ProgPower USA festival.
Wow- what a big surprise this album was. The production is top notch. This is truly a metal album. There are eight heavy songs and two slower songs. Zaks voice sounds more powerful then it has on previous albums. This is one of the best metal albums so far this year.
From the opening moments of leadoff track 'Fatal Warning' I thought I was listening to Angel Dust, Tad Morose, or Brainstorm. It sounds as if Zak played a bunch of Cris Oliva solos for the guitarists and said here 'match this'. What caught me by surprise is the full on 'Metal' approach the band took with this album. This album came as a very pleasant surprise to me. I think that is an important attribute for any band but especially for a band like Circle II Circle that has such strong ties to Zak's former band Savatage.'Delusions of Granduer' has definately exceeded my expectations and will certainly rank high on my top albums of 2008 list. The solos on this record are phenomenal.
All of the melodies are kept intact while the song writing is taken to another level.Another improvement is in the solo department.
Zak and co.
Though I personally enjoy the harder side of Circle II Circle the best, I found the ballads on this album to be a step up and more interesting compared to the ones on previous albums.Overall I really like the direction Circle II Circle has taken on 'Delusions of Granduer'.
Not that I wasn't expecting great things from this band, after all their last release 'Burden of Truth' was by far their best effort to date and saw the band solidifying there brand of melodic hard rock/metal to near perfection.
Albeit an impossible task it sounds like guitarists Andy and Evan were willing to die trying.Of course the album still includes a couple of ballads like 'Echoes' and 'Every Last Thing' for Zak to fully showcase his world class vocal talent and they are done very well.
certianly did not rest on their laurels and remain stagnant.
They have really branched out on this album sounding more modern, heavy, and aggressive.The addition of down tuned guitars, an influx of double bass drumming, and some really well crafted riffs all play there part in this expanded sound, but overall it still sounds like Circle II Circle.
I think they have gotten further away from the 'Savatage' sound and have grown into their own personal sound now.
I also really hope they keep with the heavier more modern approach found in this album and develop it further in the future.Stand Out Tracks: Fatal Warning, Waiting, Chase the Lies, Forever, Dead of Dawn
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