Review: "Circus of Fools" by Finnish Progressive Metal Band Machine Men

Finnish progressive metal band Machine Men did a great job with their 2005 album called Elegies. In 2007, they came out with what is their best album as a group called Circus of Fools. One of the major reasons why this is the case is because of the title track itself.

He is a clown among a group of fools. The song could just as well describe the former Donald Trump Administration. Donald Trump likes to blame everyone else for the things that go wrong. This song was written back in 2007 when the US was under the Presidency of George W. Bush who also was not a very strong leader but even he was not as bad as what the current US regime is like now. The chorus is a brilliant one, describing someone who has a tendency to blame others for his or her misfortune. These kinds of people are the people that like to play the role of the victim. They are also energy vampires. Politics aside, the song is an excellent way to start off what would be the band’s last album. This was a great way for Machine men to end a 13 year career even though they would disband four years later.

The next song called No Talk Without the Giant is a song about a person that is haunted by his past and he is doing some soul searching. Will he ever recover from his hardship? We can surmise that he will do just that.

Ghost of the Seasons is about a person that is despondent because all of the dreams he had have now sailed away from him and slipped through his hands. He wonders who is controlling his life because he is convinced that it is not him. The song called Tyrannize is about a soldier who is working on the pretext of spreading peace but in reality, he is spreading sins all around the world. The melodic song called The Shadow Gallery is about a prisoner who wonders what is keeping the cell so dark. He is being driven to the point of craziness because he feels that someone is playing games with his mind. Therefore, he cannot escape from his shadow gallery. The song called Where I Stand is a description of one of the qualities of human nature and this is the quality of fear that can paralyze someone to the point that they cannot sleep well at night. Sometimes we may feel like we are out of place in what is described as a cold and strange land. The Iron Maiden influence can be heard in the interlude in this song.

The song called Border of the Real World is the heaviest song in the album and it even has a guest solo done by Ilari Henaaho. Next we have the song called Dying Without a Name which is a song about being saved by fate. There are times where we narrowly escape death and are given another chance to live. We are grateful for those lifesaving moments. The album’s lyrical themes basically address the flaws of human nature such as lies, deceit, and sin. Often times there are some people that will make promises but they will not deliver on those promises.

Final Thoughts

Circus of Fools is a solid progressive metal album from this Finnish band that would disband in February 2011 due to a lack of interest from the other band members.