Keep attention to CIRCUS MAXIMUS... their new album "Isolate" is out, and probably we are facing one of the "highlights" OF the year in progressive metal. It's time to ask some questions to the singer MICHAEL ERIKSEN...

Hello! Welcome Michael , here is Marco from the italian metal webzine A DREAM IN STEEL … so, well done, your second album “Isolate” is finally out. I have do admit that I was curious to know how CIRCUS MAXIMUS would have developed their style , starting from a very good work like “The 1 st Chapter”. What's new ? I saw clearest and better production, enriched melodies, a most mature style … what else ? to you what can we say to the readers to understand better the difference between what you were in 2004/2005 and what you are now?

Hi there Marco nice to hear from you , and thanks for noticing the " upgrades " on our new album hihi ;-) I totaly agree with you..the sound is better...the songs are more mature and more to the point and we have really worked on the melodies this time .I guess that says it all ;-)

About the lyrics, I know that “Isolate” is dealing with the theme of madness and solitude. First, who's the main responsible for the lyrics, and why did you choose this theme for your new album?

All the members of Circus Maximus write lyrics either together or alone . During the recordings of Isolate we often got together to talk about what the different songs were about , and a funny thing I remember is that Mats and myself had written the lyrics for the song " Wither " and I asked Truls what was his story about when it came to the song " Form A Childhood`s Hour " , and he said " Well it is about this guy who is struggling in the gutter " and that was funny cause that was also the " theme " for Wither . Then I remember talking to Glen , and he had the same thing going on with the song Abyss..a guy struggling in the gutter and that was when we decided to make the album a concept-album since 3 of the songs had someway the " same " story .

In this sense, is there any song you think is special to catch better the sense of the album?

Yeah the song Abyss . Where you have the main character standing on the edge of the abyss and thinking is his life worth living ?

The lyrics in the chorus is : " I stand on the edge of the Abyss and I am waiting to fall . I see no way out in life . When I look back there was no one there for me . "

That chorus-line catches the main theme of the album I think .

Passing now to the music, I found in “Zero”, “Wither” and “Mouth of Madness”, just to name 3 of my favourite songs, an almost perfect balance between your best known progressive touch and great melodies remembering the AOR school. Now I want to know how a CRCUS MAXIMUS song get birth usually.. do you follow any particular guidelines, or all of you guys are free to follow your personal tastes ?

Well yes and no actually . We are all very " picky " when it comes to ideas , and we won`t put in a cool guitar riff that Mats has if it doesn`t fit the song in total .

Usually the songs start with either a guitar riff or a keyboard riff and we work on it from there .

What was the contribution of the new keyboard player Lasse Finbroten ?

Wow he is the master I can tell you ! He is such a great guy and such an awesome player . I believe there is nothing he "can`t do " on his keyboard hahaha ;-)

He is also a great song writer and he has come up with tons of ideas to the album . And it is very important having a keyboard player who actually are all in on the music instead of beeing " told " what to do .

Last but not least, your voice is one of the best qualities of the new album…taking a look to the past, in which occasion did you realize you'd have become a singer?

Thank you so much Marco it means a lot to me to hear you say that !;-) I have been singing more or less since I was 12 years old , cause that was when I started to play in a band . I started of by playing guitar and doing backing vocals in a rock band and as the years went by I started focusing a lot more on just the voice . So the development has come natural to me ;-)

And what about your favourite singers, those you consider a true source of inspiration ?

Oh there are a lot to choose from , but the main " sources " must be : Geoff Tate , Jorn Lande , Joey Tempest , Andy Engberg , Richard Marx and Roy Khan .

Those guys are all about melodies and so am I ;-) When it comes to song-writers my top two writers are Kip Winger and Richard Marx .