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Hard to believe this band has changed so much since Steel in 2011. By now everyone knows this band has been morphing more and more into their own style of pop-fueled Power Metal, with a lot of catchy hooks, keyboards, and genuinely good vocals from fronter Noora Louhimo. Whether you like this band or not kind of depends on whether you feel like the sheer catchiness of their songs makes up for how cheesy they are. I have found things to like about even their silliest albums, as even at their worst Battle Beast are listenable.

So this newest disc will not surprise anyone who has heard this band at any point in the past 10 years. If there is a reason why this is weaker than a lot of their output, it's because for one: there are not really any ace songs on here. Even albums like Bringer of Pain had a few crackers like "Bastard Son of Odin" or "Dancing with the Beast," but Circus of Doom doesn't really have any standouts. The other reason is that it all sounds very familiar, and if you have heard their past works you will swear you have heard these songs before. Not the strongest effort from this band.