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For those who are not familiar with them, Circle II Circle is the group founded by Zachary Stevens, former singer of Savatage (but if I have to tell you..).
Besides this, there are many other points of contact with the famous metal veterans, starting precisely with the sound, which is practically identical (therefore, conventional American heavy metal), but also the names of the beneficiaries of the royalties: Stevens, Oliva, Aufferman, Caffery, in other words, the Savatage.
“The Middle of Nowhere” is an excellent album, powerful but not heavy, consisting of 10 tracks for about 50 minutes. It should be noted that here, the Savatage influence is felt less compared to the previous “Watching In Silence”. Sandwiched between the apparent tranquility of the closing “Lost” and the first few minutes of the introductory “In This Life” (which then unfolds into a pleasant aggressiveness), the pieces that most enhance Stevens' magnificent vocal technique and timbre, we find more dark and sharp pieces (“All That Remains”, “Open Season”, “Holding On” and “Faces in the Dark”), more cheerful atmospheres (“Cynical Ride”, “Hollow” and especially “Psycho Motor”) which dissipate in the melancholic title track.
Highly recommended album primarily for fans of Savatage (as well as “Watching In Silence”), but also for those accustomed to more violent sounds who occasionally want to hear something melodic.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 All That Remains (05:17)
Now I can see I need more than time
Time to understand this life
All that remains are the things that never changed
You need more than I could provide
More than what you feel inside
You know the pain so familiar
Who's to gain?
It's a one-way situation
Running through my mind
In a world of desolation
The souls we left behind
In this mass confusion
Ringing in my head
Through all the past illusions
I see you there a silent stare
Why, why should truth have its cost?
This reality is my loss to find my peace
Is the hardest thing to reach
So we ride dividing lines
And we keep on buying time
We play this game
And there's no good time to change
It's a one-way situation...
Memories locked in safe places
Been through shock and seen the faces
Can someone hear me now?
Can someone show me?
All that seemed just the right way
Was a lie sent to betray
Time's torment never complete
Lives for rent
So easy to deceive
So easy to believe
Now, can I see I need more than time...
It's a one-way situation...
Where will the souls remain?
Drowning in pools of shame. All that remains!
04 Holding On (05:11)
Look in the past in times you'll see
(The broken pieces of your life)
Everything that was in focus
(Broke apart before your eyes)
Nights you shook with cold despair
(That you really couldn't bear)
Then you scream to find there's no one there
Look into the face of a crying disgrace
Lies defeat you time's deceived you
You can't take it anymore
You know it ain't so hard to break you
Did you know how far they'd take you?
Can you see the scars upon you?
Still you face the nights alone
Everything is falling by the wayside
And it's calling you to find the reasons why
You're just holding on
Can't you see what's wrong?
Look at what you've got
Find out if it's worth
Holding on - Holding on
Your thoughts come through in only shades
(Things seem deep within your gray)
In this out of mind experience
(Only darkness will exist)
Remember days we used to show
(These deep divisions that we know)
Apparitions seen so long ago
Look into the face of a crying disgrace
The situation got you breaking
You can't take it anymore
You know it ain't so hard to break you...
Look into the face of a crying disgrace
Lies defeat you time's deceived you
You can't take it anymore
You know it ain't so hard to break you...
07 Psycho Motor (04:58)
I want to know why you make the silence
Create the violence reflecting in my head
I'm on the run just a soul deceiver
A true believer lifted from the dead
This time I want to roll the tide
I'm gonna touch the sky
Don't believe a word they said
Then I'll wait for the perfect hour
To feed the psycho motor in my head
I finally see what the end will bring
There's a truth in the words and the things never heard
When they try as they must to save the nation
Contemplate your own salvation
I'm burning, still running, I'm gone to stay
You want - Times caught - Why run? - Times done
I want to fly like there's no tomorrow
No broken sorrows, no cry for quick solutions
Must be nice sitting way up there
In your private lair blending into this confusion
I'm not one to take it for the cause
All the things I've lost I never really wanted to own
Remember time never fails to pass
So don't you ask for the things I've never shown
Shifting and searching your way through the maze
Like a shock to the brain that'll drive you insane
Just a thought from the time that you had half a life
But you left it behind now you're walking that line
I'm burning, still running, I'm on my way
You want - Times caught - Why run? - Times done
I'm burning, still running, I'm on my way
You want - Times caught - Why run? - Times done
I want to search for a serious life
Searching inside pleading for all the answers
And every course that I chose to take
Never going to make the same mistaken turns
Taking every chance while the circumstances
Arise so there might be a chance to start
Want to put all these things behind us
That grip and grind us and rip them all apart
Overcome by the sight of the screams in your eyes
There's no way to get hold cause your spirit's been sold
And sometimes faith don't control this game
And losing your mind ain't as bad as they say
I'm burning, still running, I'm on my way
Time's falling, life's calling so far away
You want - Times caught - Why run? - Times done
09 The Middle of Nowhere (04:53)
I used to think that life's a game
Meant to play then fade away
And take the journey slow
To the twilight of my days
Now my thoughts are so alive
I'll die trying to turn back the hands of time
I'm not sure what I found
Broken free from the
Self-created problems inside
I never had a reason to want to carry on
Watch the night begin to fly
You see a strange light from within
Don't try to fight it when you're feeling lost
And drained completely
Because of where you've been
In the middle of nowhere
You sat and watched from underneath
All the weight of broken years
Then along the way the nights
Left you shaking ever near
To the end that you desired
When you lost the fire the line was very clear
And all the things that I've found
Melting away like the rain that never
Seems to stop I never had a reason to doubt
You would carry on
Watch the night begin to fly...
Never look back, understand
Don't fade away and let it slip from your hands
I don't know how to feel
I don't know how to deal
Bound and stripped of all I really know
Pieces of the afterthoughts
When you saw that all was lost
There's nowhere to go this time
Now you finally know the cost
I can't save you from your thoughts
In the middle of nowhere
10 Lost (04:48)
You followed me through changes
Thinking things could work out fine
I was in need of rescue
On that cold forsaken night
I was the only one in the way
Sinking into a deep divide
Seeing through to the outside
Was always so far out of sight
Time goes by
Wasted on the words
And although we tried
So much is still unheard
Am I lost inside?
You were the only one
Who could help me see beyond this haze
You made the weight of the world I carried
Somehow lift away
I threw away what I held sacred
All the things I orchestrated
Pieces of me fell all around
And some just won't be found
Time goes by...
Totally lost in the world
I've been reeling in pain
From the loss of my soul
I've been dealing
All that's here and gone
And it won't be long
Speak to me now
I don't know if I'm fading
A ghost in the light's
Laughing while I'm degrading
All that's here and gone
You know it won't be long
'Til there's no more sound
I'll drown it out I won't feel a thing
Time goes by...
Totally lost in a world I create in the dark
Totally lost in a world I create
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