With his roots in Savatage, Zak Stevens (vocals), pulls influence from Oliva/O'Neill for his own band on the opening instrumental ‘Over-Underture’. But, while you have the Tage influence, Circle identifies itself with the heavier chugging riffing and progressive changes inside of a more aggressive delivery for ‘Victim Of The Night’. ‘Victim’ utilizes a more modernish rhythmic riff within a prog structure as tempo switches, splashes of piano, are the elements to which Circle II Circle have worked with since their debut “Watching in Silence” in 2003. A more straight ahead catchier number, ‘Untold Dreams’, shows Zak’s voice still as strong as one would remember from “Edge Of Thorns” (Savatage), as with ‘It’s All Over’ in delivery, with a heavier punch and tasty riff. Speaking of riffs, like the start of ‘One More Day’, that includes complimenting leads as well. There’s a darker feel to this album, appropriately so given the title, and is reflected in ‘Ghost Of The Devil’. The consistent keyboard tone carries throughout the album, opening the almost thrashy begun ‘Deep Within’. ‘Taken Away’ and ‘Sinister Love’ complement each other with their contemporary riffing, both include a tempo and riff changes, and punchy rhythms to prevent repetition in delivery.

Circle fit in the Symphony X, Vanden Plas, Vanishing Point, and the like, family tree Eleven songs – maybe shave off two. Other than that pretty darn good.