Don’t be ashamed when you’ve never heard of Canadian progressive rock band Kaos Moon, neither am I. The band originated in Quebec in 1985. They had some success in their home country but split up because of some tensions among the musicians even before the first album was recorded. The band got together in 1993 to record the debut album After The Storm but soon after that the spirit fades and Kaos Moon ends.

In 1992 a couple of former members of the band got together again and new musicians were found to complete the band. Kaos Moon began their third live and started recording the second album, called The Circle Of Madness, in twenty years.
The sound of the album comes pretty close to the latest Big Big Train release `Gathering Speed`. Babbling acoustic orientated music with slightly high pitched vocals. The main problem is that this album is actually hard to criticise. I can’t write any bad things about the compositions, the sound or the way the instruments are played. Yet, there is something that stops me from getting excited.

One thing that bothers me is the fact that the bands sounds a little bit restricted, there’s not a single moment where the edge comes within reach of the band. Despite the nice compositions this album therefore tends a little bit to being boring. You have to be really focussed to be carried away by the music and enjoy the fine compositions, you’re too easily inclined to play The Circle Of Madness as back ground music while reading or playing a computer game. The only time that the album really draws attention playing in the back ground are the parts where the progressive element of the songs lies in the vocals. I hate the Muppets like vocals in the song Say To Me and the sugar sweet refrains of The Waves. Nevertheless The Circle Of Madness is not a bad album, the just a little bit hard to get into. When you’re tired of listening to over complex and depressing progressive concept albums and you’d love to be pleased by easy listening prog, it might be a blessing to have this album in your collection.