Circus Of Rock – Lost Behind The Mask (Frontiers)

Circus Of Rock is a hard rock project put together by the Finnish drummer Mirka Rantanen of King Company fame with the debut release being Come One, Come All which was released in 2021. This was a superior hard rock affair made remarkable by the numerous high quality guest performers and Rantanen has very much kept the same formula for the high-octane follow-up.

The debut called together musicians from Amaranthe, Tyketto, Hardline, Nightwish, Leverage, Stratovarius, Brother Firetribe and Masterplan which is an impressive list which set the bar very high. All contributed to a most spectacular album of incendiary heavy metal fireworks on an album of melodic hard rock which harked back to those golden metal days of the 1970s and 1980s. So, it’s been time again for Rantanen to get out his telephone book and he has again pulled together another talented team which, staggeringly, includes musicians from the likes of Lordi, Pink Cream 69, Uriah Heep, Girish And The Chronicles, Sons Of Apollo and Ring Of Fire – an impressive team eh?

There is something of a flavour of rock theatre to the whole work so the name of Circus Of Rock is most appropriate. All the vocalists have their own individual styles but, as with the debut, these contrasts work very well together and gives the album something of a concept flavour with Rantanen being the magician who brings everything perfectly together.

The album kicks off in fine form with the wonderful voice of Girish Pradhan of Girish And The Chronicles and this talented artist is very much in the company of some truly amazing musicians and if you can put together a team to include Mark Boals, Jeff Scott Soto, David Readman, Mr Lordi and the one and only Bernie Shaw then success has to be guaranteed. The music is perfectly written and played to perfection and features plenty of great guitar but it is the array of top-rate singers that grab the attention and provide the icing on the cake.

The debut was a great record but Lost Behind The Mask has definitely outdone it! Check out the awesome album closing Sunrise which sees Bernie Shaw on great form to see just how good this record is.