I don’t know exactly how things work out there in “Record Label Land”, but surely it is not mere coincidence that within the last 2 weeks I have had released from 2 former “Savatage” members to review.  Following on from my review of “Jon Oliva’s Pain” I now have the latest from “Circle II Circle”, fronted by Zak Stevens.  I am sure that there are some conspiracy theorists out there that will look upon it as an attempt to take over the music world so we all bow to the Lord previously known as “Savatage”!  Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, especially when you realise that “Burden of Truth” was supposedly inspired by the books “The Da Vinci Code” and “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” and there are apparently secret messages hidden in the lyrics and the album artwork. 

One thing that does immediately become obvious is how much time Zak and the band have spent honing their skills.  Their previous effort “The Middle of Nowhere”  was a bit of a let down for a lot of Zak’s fans; the amazing keyboard and piano arrangements were missing, lead playing was virtually non-existent and the poor production didn’t do Zak’s vocals any favours at all.   

Well, I am pleased to say that all the wrongs have now been put right.  The production on “Burden of Truth” is excellent and has really managed to highlight Zak’s vocals and melodies throughout the whole release, the guitars of Andrew Lee and Evan Christopher have some real thrust behind them and push out some awesome well timed riffs.  As always, keeping all the music together in the background is the solid bass of Paul Michael Steward and the thunderously wicked paced drums from Robert T Drennan.  As with all ingredients, you need to have the right balance to achieve the correct end result, and when you add all these musicians together, give them a bit of a stir, add in some power and voila, you get a very strong and intense work of melodic, almost conceptual, metal rock. 

All in all I feel that “Burden of Truth” doesn’t contain a single below average tune and I found it hard to pick out any track or tracks that I could class as being my favourites, however I do feel that “Who Am I To Be”, “Heal You”, “The Black” and especially “Revelations” (I think this is to be called “The Sign” on the full release) need to have a special mention as probably being on a slightly higher level than the others on this release. 

OK, “Burden of Truth” is supposed to be a concept album, it takes inspiration from the books mentioned previously and is apparently based on the story of Mary Magdalene and the descendents of Christ.   

Do I care that I couldn’t find the secret messages hidden in the lyrics and the artwork?  No.   

Do I care about the descendants of Christ and who he was (supposedly) sleeping with? No.   

Do I care about the music? YES.  All that really concerned me is that this is a release with professional packaging, near perfect production, extremely high quality song material and to top it all off, is a damm good listen.

Let us know your views on 'Burden Of Truth'

Track List

Who Am I To Be
Matter of time
I Can Heal You
Your Reality
Signs
Trace Of Evermore
New Messiah
The Black
Sentenced
Burden Of Truth
Live As One
Into The Wind

Line Up

Zak Stevens - Vocals
Andrew Lee - Guitars
Evan Christopher - Guitars
Paul Michael Stewart - Bass
Robert Thomas Drennan - Drums