Following
Manilla Road
's de facto dissolution during the sessions for 1990's turbulent
The Courts of Chaos
, vocalist, guitarist, and lead songwriter
Mark Shelton
intended his next album (recorded with high school mates, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist
Andrew Coss
and drummer/vocalist
Aaron Brown
) to signal the beginning of a brand new project to be named Circus Maximus. But, when his ever-shady record label,
Black Dragon
, proceeded to release the album with
The Circus Maximus
as its title, and credited to the retired
for a band name, many longtime fans were understandably confused and disappointed at the very uncharacteristic sounds contained herein. These bore little resemblance to the epic
heavy metal
, steeped in magic and mythology, of
's long career, but opted instead for predominantly calmer sounds branching out in all sorts of unprecedented new directions.
"Lux Aeterna,"
for example, took shocking
progressive rock
liberties with
AOR
slickness;
"Flesh and Fury"
melded hard
funk
with a mellow mid-section worthy of
Kansas
(the band, not the state!); and
"She's Fading"
imposed marshal rhythms upon a protracted classic
rock
formula. All three showcased bassist/composer
Coss
's remarkably soulful,
Glenn Hughes
-styled pipes to perfection, while providing unprecedented dynamic space over which
Shelton
could expand his six-string soloing vocabulary. Speaking of
, contributions of his like
"Throne of Blood,"
"No Sign from Above,"
and
"Forbidden Zone,"
though still marked by a moderately biting guitar tone to go with their scarier titles, offer vocal harmonies reminiscent of
King's X
, further funky flirtations, and instrumental detours into almost free-form
jazz
, among their most memorable qualities. It's harder to figure out what was meant to be accomplished with the freaky-deaky horror piece
"Spiders,"
or the slothful riffs and
Alice in Chains
-like baritone drones of
"In Gein We Trust,"
both of them
art rock
pieces of particularly curious stripe, but they do contribute to the album's endless store of surprises. Finally, and even if the reigning eclecticism described above doesn't convince you, it's abundantly clear how inspired and prolific the album's sessions were, given its nearly 70-minute running time. The only lingering question is therefore, why wasn't there a sequel? The fact that
and Co. insisted on billing themselves as Circus Maximus for live performances, even after the album's release under the
banner, would suggest serious intentions to carry on as a group into future projects. But as it turned out,
remains a one-off release for this lineup, with
eventually resurrecting
a few years down the road. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia