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Reviews

Viewing Reviews for Welcome to the Freakroom
Also see reviews for:
Whispers and Screams On a Dark and Stormy Night From the Shadows
 
Publication: Progbase
Reviewer: Jason Bermiller
"From the opening moments of hearing the rather sinister welcome of a twisted circus master to the closing of the multi-part “Journey of Everyman,” Shadow Circus deliver a sound that is at once recognizable and innovatively exciting. Their fresh, almost innocent approach to prog smacks of the sincere love they all have for the music. Lead singer David Bobick, a charismatic performer with an academic and professional background in musical theatre, presents full-fledged characters in each of the pieces by this quintet of remarkable musicians. The band negotiates full, arena-sized power chords charging at you in ring number one, intricate and approachable improvisations in ring number two, and, in ring number three, catchy melodies and hooks that keep you seated under the big top. ...Ranging from critiques of becoming clones through iPod culture to journeys within the soul, “Welcome to the Freakroom” is a satisfying listen and an extremely strong entrance into the prog realm. ...Highly recommended and most likely to be a top pick for 2007."

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Publication: ProGGnosis
Reviewer: Nuno
"...All the classic ingredients for symphonic prog rock can be found in Welcome to the Freakroom. The swirling keyboards approaching ELP, companied by a crafted guitar work somewhere between Guilmour, Hackett, Rothery and Latimer with an extra hard rocking tone here and there. The theatrical vocalizations, especially in the excellent opening track, the competent and rich rhythm section. All this interplaying in an almost perfect way, changing pace, time signatures, direction and scope in a abundant way like good sympho prog has always taught us and accustomed us to.

This is an album that will be an excellent discovery for all those that like all the mentioned bands, and that like the modern interpretation of the classic tendencies. This album is rich, diverse and complex…as you like them to be! ..."

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Publication: Metal Perspective
Reviewer: Stefanos Lountzis
"...Shadow Circus is a fresh New York's progressive rock act formed by 5 skillful musicians, which are delivering through their confident and colourful performances a remarkable first album....they combine with ease prog's golden era with the new, guitar based, prog sounds. Their ability to perform complicated yet so accessible and memorable songs due to their melodic approach is really remarkable...."

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Publication: Rock Reviews
Reviewer: Mage
"Shadow Circus is quite an interesting group...They play a 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. ...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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Publication: Hardrock Haven
Reviewer: Edwin van Hoof
Rating: 9.2/10

"Shadow Circus are without doubt one of the most remarkable new prog acts on the MySpace pages. With the new Welcome to the Freakroom spinning round after round, it reveals more of its outstanding beauty with every play..."

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Publication: Jerry Lucky
Reviewer: Jerry Lucky (author of The Progressive Rock Files)
"...There is a wonderful blend of complexity with memorability. Many of the songs are built on repeating elements allowing the song to go through a variety of movements while still allowing it to return “home” so to speak to drive the central melody. Richly textured, with layers of keyboards we go from a dreamy symphonic atmospheres to guitar centered rock work-outs. Mellotron samples appear from time to time hearkening back to the early days of prog. But this in no way could be considered a retro sound. Shadow Circus is very modern band with a style that is distinctly their own. If you’re looking for a sonic reference point buried in the music you might hear a mix of the most progressive elements of bands such as Styx, Crack the Sky and early Spock’s Beard making this a truly unique American prog sound. I loved Shadow Circus! For me it has the perfect blend of accessibility and adventurousness. If you enjoy the music of the bands mentioned and would like yet another take on this aspect of the progressive rock genre I highly recommend you get a hold of a copy of Welcome to the Freakroom by Shadow Circus. This disc is loaded with some great sounds, great songs and great music. If there is any justice in the music world, Shadow Circus will become that 15-year in the making overnight success. ..."

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Publication: Progmusic Blog
Reviewer: Ray Caso
"This is a wonderful CD with some much great sounds, both instrumentally and vocally. This is some of the best symphonic progressive rock I have heard in a long while....The CD closes with the sixth track entitled "Journey of Everyman." This is the epic Progressive song and the summit for the band on this CD. ...This will be a classic progressive song that every progressive rock fan will rank as one of the best..."

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Publication: Progarchives
Reviewer: H.T. Riekels
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

"...This one is chock full of intricate musicianship, changes, mood swings, and grandeur. Yes indeed, the things this old proghead is a sucker for. The band really gets to show what they are made of, and they don't disappoint...."

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Publication: Amazon
Reviewer: Customer Reviews
"Welcome To The Freakroom" is a blast to listen to, and contains a treasure trove of classic 70's rock and prog rock musical references: from the stadium bombast of Queen, to the organ pumping drive of Deep Purple, to the plaintive wail of a David Gilmour solo, to the keyboard flourishes of ELP, to the idiosyncratic attack of Tull, to the urban angst assault of The Who, to the depths-of-the-earth rythmn section momentum of Led Zeppelin - to name but a few ...

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Publication: MusicTAP
Reviewer: Matt Rowe
Rating: 4/5 Stars.

"...It takes a lot to be taken seriously in the ProgRock genre, and Shadow Circus has all of the skill-sets in place to excel at this style. These guys rock, which leaves me anxious for their second album…already."

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Publication: Progressive Ears
Reviewer: Iván Melgar Morey
"...It’s great to find that despite so many years listening to progressive rock, my capacity of astonishment isn’t lost. I’m still capable to feel that sensation I had when I was 12 years old each time my parents brought me from USA a Yes or a Genesis album and found something almost magical that gave me goosebumps. As you might guess, Welcome to the Freakroom has really impressed me, because they keep the spirit of the days when prog was young but have the guts to be absolutely unique. They play great symphonic prog and are not afraid to get very close to the borders of neo prog with a touch of hard rock. If I had to choose a word that describes them, it would be original...."

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Publication: Prognaut
Reviewer: Terry Jackson
"“Step Right Up…” These words begin the Shadow Circus CD. If you accept this invitation, you are in for one wild carny ride into a world of dark clowns and spooky freaks. A Shadow Circus indeed...Shadow Circus is an original band that certainly has a good future...."

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