Review | A Circus – A Circus

Rockshots Records

A Circus is a hard rock studio project, consisting of Luca Federici (guitars), Alfredo Federici (bass guitar), Shane Gaalaas (drums), Marco Verdone (keys) and special guest singer Ronnie Romero. Born in Chile, Romero is best known as the singer of rock/metal bands Elegant Weapons, Lords Of Black, Sunstorm, Michael Schenker Group and of course Rainbow. This debut album features nine songs and two singles – ,,Judas” and ,,Two Ghosts” – have already been launched on digital platforms. Musical influences are obviously Rainbow, Deep Purple, Queen and Blackmore’s Night and these influences create a classic prog rock sound, which also sounds rather familiar and not very original…

RAINBOW AND DEEP PURPLE

The album kicks off with an instrumental run of the mill, boring acoustic track called ,,Out Of The Hat” and that is not a wonderful way to start this album in my humble opinion…. Follow up ,,Burn The Witch” – packed with Rainbow/Deep Purple-like melodies/riffs – is a better song, and the chorus is utterly addictive and catchy. ,,A Snow-Covered Road” is a bluesy song, while ,,Two Ghosts” is a bittersweet folk-like ballad, and the use of the mandolin reminds me of Blackmore’s Night for sure.

BALLADS

,,Rainbow Tears” is an almost 100% Rainbow soundalike and ,,The Sleeper” is another ballad, featuring a too long piano intro, followed by lots of dull orchestral passages. The excellent guitar solo at the end of this song does not really save this one from being mediocre. ,,Judas” is a mid-tempo track with again too obvious Deep Purple and Rainbow characteristics. This not impressive album, filled with all the cliches used in hard rock, closes with ,,Swing Little Girl”, a weird orchestral ballad which sounds as the odd one out song of this album.

A CIRCUS – THE CONCLUSION

Overall, an album with some good songs if you like Rainbow and Deep Purple, but nothing new under the sun. ‘A Circus’ will not end up extremely high in my top ten list albums of the year 2024.

Release date: 11 October 2024