The Circus Has Left The Town

Bloodsucker Circus

Reviewed by Kaheli

The album starts out with ‘Angel’, meshed with classic punk lines and amazing guitar riffs. The guitar riff conjures images of 50′s rock with black leather jackets, cuffed jeans and the slicked back look. It has a great bass line midway through and continues throughout the song all the way to end. I would have to say that I need to add this to the list of album favorites, if for nothing else, the music. Not that I don’t appreciate Mr. Big C’s vocals or the lyrics, I do, but the music is the attraction for me. It’s got the all the right rhythm in all the right places thanks to the amazing work of BG Loud (Guitar) and Jack (Bass)…

‘Power From Garage’ is yet another song with great retro punk tones right down to the background vocals, full of energy, wonderful reggae touch midway through and sung in Finnish no less…it’s a fabulous infusion of one language with another. Another thing to love about this song besides the use of multiple languages, is the blending of genres. The move from the punky rock into reggae and back again, is ingenious.

With a great use of heavy bass throughout the song, ‘Trashy Life’ is one of my favorites from the entire album. It has deep tones of vibrancy that has you moving your head along with whatever else you can get to follow the beat. About midway through comes an excellent guitar emphasis making it the kind of song that has you humming and singing long after you’ve turned it off…It possesses the power to stick with you.

As previously written for ‘Fuck The Mainstream!’, ‘Chinese Granny’, ‘Dirty Legends’ and ‘This Ain’t My Life’, haven’t changed a bit and therefore the opinion hasn’t either. ‘Chinese Granny’ still remains a strong Ramones reminder while ‘Dirty Legends’ still remains a personal favorite. ‘This Ain’t My Life’, while initially on the EP, fits right into the program of ‘The Circus Has Left The Town’. Infusing a ballad intro with a punking mix of grindcore guitars with passionate lyrics.

‘High Time’ and ‘Hurricane’ are tracks that have a great combination of heavy guitar, thumping drums accompanied by a great bass line. The heavier than normal use of the bass in ‘Hurricane’ is what adds the whole flavor to the song. It has an ending to that melds a little snap of old style big band with a modern flair with the use of some synths. The use of an acoustic guitar plucking out a Spanish-influenced intro is what makes ‘Take Off Your Clothes’ stand out from the beginning note. Make no mistake though, the song quickly moves into picking of electric guitar with the now-familiar use of a heavy bass.

Unlike a lot of today’s punk bands, Bloodsucker Circus keeps themselves well anchored in the retro style of punk while infusing newer tones and influences from other genres into their sound. A catchy combination of pure punk with some blues, reggae, touch of metal guitar and even a little pop action, the music has it all bundled into one album spread out across nine tracks. I was quite glad to hear that not much had changed up in their style from their EP to their first and only full length album. Too many bands nowadays feel the need to swap out or ‘progress’ out their style causing them to lose the perspective of what got them going in the first place.

Shortly after releasing this album, the band made the decision to go their separate ways. A shame actually, the world needs more punk and a lot less bullshit. Hopefully, we’ll hear more from each of them in the future…something that screams ‘pure punk’. Don’t forget to check out the link at Spotify to hear the complete album and also the links for purchasing ‘The Circus Has Left The Town’ in a downloadalbel mp3 format at either iTunes or Napster!!

Angel

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Our Rating:

7.5/10

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