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Circus Of Rock: Come One Come All
Circus Of Rock - Come One Come All Album Art

Circus Of Rock: Come One Come All

Melodic Hard Rock
4.5/5.0

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Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 28.07.2021 | Released: 06.08.2021

Circus Of Rock is the fulfillment of a personal goal for Finnish drummer Mirka Rantanen. You know him from the late power metal band Thunderstone, but also Revolution Renaissance, Kotipelto, and more recently King Company. Rantanen's desire was to create a solo album focus on great songs and songwriting with talent guest musicians, especially vocalists. The singers include an A-list of European talent including Rick Altzi, Johnny Gioeli, Marco Hietala, Danny Vaughn, among many more. The result is his first Circus Of Rock solo adventure, continuing a theme, Come One, Come All.

Mirka Rantanen - Click For Larger Image

Mirka Rantanen

Essentially, Rantanen's songwriting merges classic melodic hard rock, melodic metal, and bits of power metal in musical wrapper that can be, at times, AOR accessible and catchy. By default, the drummer also intended not to make his drumming the centerpiece of the songs. He admits you will not find any extended drum solo histrionics. The songs are the key. However, I would add that the vocals stand out quite fine. Curiously, the vocal style of many of the guest vocalists compliment each other and the tunes making the album more vocally consistent then others. Additionally, there's a strong guitar presence within each composition: between the riffs, rhythm, and ripping solos, a listener might call the album a very guitar forward album. Being somewhat of a guitar solo snob, I found this favorable.

So, for a short list of favorite tunes, I found Sheriff Of Ghost Town and The Beat to be more hard and heavy, pumped up with some speed. Something like Never and Caught In The Middle turn more on a melodic hard rock groove, with the latter offering heavy sharp riffs. Alternatively, while sharp and brisk, with the synths and groove, Plywood Covered Windows And Crappy Shoes can sound like an Eighties melodic metal arena romp. If anything, you got to love the cryptic title. All said, with Circus Of Rock, drummer Mirka Rantanen has realized his dream and accomplished his goal: Come One, Come All is a solid album of melodic hard rock infused with metal spirit and AOR accessibility. Very recommended.




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The Take Away

With Circus Of Rock, drummer Mirka Rantanen has realized his dream and accomplished his goal: Come One, Come All is a solid album of melodic hard rock infused with metal spirit and AOR accessibility. Very recommended.

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