Middle of Nowhere

On their second album "In The Middle Of Nowhere", Circle II Circle pretty much continue what they started with "Watching The Silence", or more precisely with the not-so-Savatage songs of that album. Even though Sava-members Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery still co-wrote most of the songs (another co-writer is ex-Angel Dust guitarist Bernd Aufermann), Zak and his (new) band found their way and their own style. But of course it's inevitable with this writing team as well as Zak's history that a lot of Savatage ingredients end up in Circle II Circle's music. It's more melodic, but still heavy, the band is great, good solos, and of course it's all carried by Zak's wonderful voice.

"In This Life" starts with the mix of acoustic as well as powerful and passionate parts and "All That Remains" (the first single) just has a great melody and catchy chorus. Catchy as in epic, never cheesy! "Holding On" is also one of the highlights, these songs just carry you away :) "Psycho Motor" is one of those songs where you can hear quite typical Sava-style vocals. The beautiful "Faces In The Dark" is slower and more epic again, just too heavy to be called a ballad. "The Middle Of Nowhere" invites you to sing along again, like most of the chorusses do. A song with quiet moments as well and awesome Sava-canon-style vocals at the end. Hey, he learned from the masters, so why not use it! The album closes with the sweet, acoustic "Lost" and leaves you with an overall warm and fuzzy feeling - drugged by that I can't help but give the maximum score again.