The keen reader might remember CIRCUS from an interview we published last summer. In it, we were impressed enough to write triumphant statements such as “not your average rock band” and “music that’s inherently personal, meaningful and of the utmost relevance”. We stand by our words: it was very clear to us at the time that CIRCUS are the sort of project that interacts with the reality around them, a band that’s not afraid of being politically fierce and standing on their morals.
‘A Kiss Before Dying’ is the strongest evidence of that, an eclectic and brooding rock album with a firm conceptual core. Packing eight evocative and theatrical episodes, the record functions as an extreme mirror of the chaotic and dystopian world CIRCUS live in. Their guitars are put to good use, both in old-school rock’n’roll anthems such as ‘Hearts on the Wire’, and more crepuscular and abstract pieces such as the closing title track. In that sense, the Newcastle-based outfit have marked themselves as more than a simple rock band; they are a fully fledged creative entity, one that does not play by anyone’s rules.
From a lyrical standpoint, ‘A Kiss Before Dying’ is a record that well adapts to the gloominess and scarce optimism of our times. In fact, the album seeks to describe and evoke such a dooming character, doing so with radical storytelling and cinematic allure. As we are told: “It is a statement of intent. A record that confronts uncomfortable truths, questions cycles of history, and explores what remains when the noise dies away.” An album written for the end of the world as we know it. Or, perhaps, for a new beginning?
Recommended! Discover ‘A Kiss Before Dying’ now: