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Machine Men have been making a lot of noise since their 2003 debut Scars & Wounds, with a lot of people proclaiming them the next best thing to Iron Maiden – in fact comparisons to Maiden have become pretty much standard when discussing this band. For their third full-length this band has finally stepped away from the Iron shadow and produced a much darker, more individual album than before.

While their sophomore album Elegies got flack for being slumpy, I frankly think their much-lauded debut is a bit overrated. Pretty much every Machine Men album is the same: they have a lot of enjoyable cuts and about three really great songs. This album is no different. None of these songs are bad, and they are all entertaining, but a lot of them just never gell and become great songs. The opening title track is a good, solid rocker, if not as infectious as "Silver Dreams' off the debut. The real winner here is "Ghost Of The Seasons", which is just an amazing song – a slow, searing epic that shows a band who have the power to do virtually anything when they are at full strength. This one song is worth the whole album.

Beautifully produced, sharply played and sometimes brilliant, Circus Of Fools suffers from a bit of the inconsistency that may always plague this band. But Machine Men's highs are as high as metal gets. Fans of straight-up Heavy Metal should not miss this.