Shadow Circus is quite an interesting group... the band's debut album "Welcome to the Freakroom" awakens mixed feelings with its hard-to-pin-down sound. They play strangely up-beat mixture of classic melodic rock and neo-prog with occasional pop sensibilities - instrumental oddities are almost always followed by stellar hooks. Another distinctive feature of their music are the vocals, since David Bobick has rather unique, almost theatrical voice. To name some groups for reference, I'd say you can hear traces of many bands of the 70's including, but not limited to, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Yes and Pink Floyd. All of those bands are present in Shadow Circus' music, but SC knits it all together and succeeds in crafting a sound of their own.

Welcome to the Freakroom has been produced somewhat moderately, so the sounds stay true to classic prog (except the vocals have been trendily autotuned). There was actually a noticeable tuning artifact on the chorus of "In the Wake of a Dancing Flame" at 6:18. Nonetheless, there's still certain rawness present, but in the longer run it becomes strangely appealing and really works for the band. Overall, this group hailing from New York manages to surprise me, because they explore the golden era of progrock without sounding too similar to any specific group.

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- MAGE (September 17th, 2007)

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LINE-UP:
Bobick, David Lawrence: Lead and Back-up Vocals Fontana, John: Guitars and Keyboards Folta, Corey: Drums Mazek, Matt: Bass, 12 Strong Guitar, Cello and Back-up Vocals Tenorio, Zach: Keyboards Kelly, John: Additional Back-up Vocals
Producer:	Fontana, John & Folta, Corey
Mixing by:	Folta, Corey
Mastering by:	Unavailable

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Shadow Circus 02. Storm Rider 03. Inconvenient Compromise 04. Radio People 05. In the Wake of a Dancing Flame 06. Find Your Way Length: 45:23