trax:
Entrance
Beauty Will Fade
Gypsies' Dance - Part 2
Ituneric V
Haita Di Lupi
When The Soulreapers Cry
Ituneric VI
All That Remain
Ituneric VII
Of Madness In Its Purity

Line-up:
Lars F. Larsen - vocals
Kristian Larsen - guitars
Martin Arendal - guitars
Kasper Gram - bass
Mads Volf - drums

After "Part 1" comes "Part 2", but also final part of this concept story about a travelling 19th century circus. "Disclosure" came out on the 15th May, which is almost 8 months later. What is remarkable is that the band and their label Massacre Records have parted ways and so Locomotive Records got the deal for this release.

On this album you can hear the following guest musicians, although I don't know in which songs they appear - save for Jacob Hansen ("Ituneric VII"):

Jacob Hansen (INVOCATOR, ANUBIS GATE) on vocals
Teddy Möller (LOCH VOSTOK, WUTHERING HEIGHTS) on growls
Finn Zierler (BEYOND TWILIGHT) doing a keyboard solo
Andreas Lindahl (WUTHERING HEIGHTS, ex-PLATITUDE) doing some keyboard leads and solos

While the first album was a short of look of what happened backstage, the second part is about the circus and the show itself. Starting with "Entrance", the people are welcomed into the tent to see a magical show.

Once inside the tent, "Beauty Will Fade" bursts loose, with dark riffs and Mads's pounding drumming. This is still no happy Metal, but you do get treated again with the typical MANTICORA ingredients. I'm sure I'll understand more what's going on when I have the lyrics with me. In this song it's also quite clear that the band have decided to give more attention to the instruments, let the music speak. This results in more instrumental parts and long solo moments, backed by atmospheric keyboards. Always a pleasure with these Danish.

While "Gypsies' Dance - Part 1" was uptempo and wild, "Part 2" shows a more downtempo side, more Bluesy and Lars sings in a more dramatic way. But the song clocks in after almost 8 and ½ minutes, so this means a lot can happen. And it does: around 2:50 Mads entertains the crowd and listener with a nice drumsolo, assisted by accoustic/flamenco guitars, after which it's Metal full-on. Damn, I have so many images in my head of what could fit this instrumental part. And yes, keyboard solo here, but only short since Lars soon takes over again. Kasper also gets his 15 seconds of fame with a nice bass intervention and this really adds some extra spices to the song. The second part of the dance started in a slow, dramatic way and that's also how it ends.

"Ituneric V" is very mysterious, a bit Westernish with again the atmospheric keyboards. The growling wolf at the end introduces also the instrumental and überfantastic "Haita Di Lupi". A pure Metal delight. Guitarsolos, keyboard solos, drumming that will crush your skull, ferocious riffs... More of this, please! And that returning accoustic guitar part. Great stuff. Sadly everything comes to a halt after 2 minutes and ½.

But the wild show goes on with "When The Soulreapers Cry". Again quite Progressive with the a variety of guitar work, drumwork, and what not. Bombast is a word that surely describes things very well. The chorus is very melodic and reminds of "8 Deadly Sins". This song is again a step in the right direction in describing what's happening in the story. Imagine when they play this live.

After this brutal event, it's time to relax a bit. The symphonic "Ituneric VI" is a welcome interlude. Of course this also contains the right dose of mystery. Must I say how "All That Remain" sounds? ;-) What makes this song, and the others where this was done, so nice are the background vocals, as they add more melody and epicness. The guitarsolos are pretty flawless and indispensable. Since this is a non-stop wild song, it could get a little annoying, especially since the other full songs are also of this kind.

And there we have Jacob Hansen on vocals. He seems like a mix of Kai Hansen and Glenn Hughes. ;-) But it's nice to hear him sing and for the sake of variety, it's good that Lars gets some rest. No guitars or drums here, just keyboards and vocals.

Kasper and Mads have the honour to start the final song, "Of Madness In Its Purity". Like before this is another uptempo song, but luckily melody and singing are key here and the ferocity has been dammed a bit more. To be honest, I'm not that fond of this song. Perhaps because it's a bit overdone, because there are too many songs of the same type: aggressive, uptempo, wild, vicious, etc.. Sure, if it's in the interest of the story, I have no problems with it. But still..

"The Black Circus Part 1 - Letters" took some time to digest, "Disclosure" was easier to get into because there are more complete songs. There's more aggressiveness on this album, more action and I have to say the "Ituneric"s offer a nice break/resting point. The new album is no less a must-have for the fans than the previous releases, but our Danish could have made it a lot easier - story and budgetwise - when the two discs were combined into one package. Just like AYREON did with his "Into The Electric Castle" and "The Human Equation" albums, to name just these.