Eden Circus - Irrlicht (2025)

A gap of more than ten years between the first and second album is... well, rather unfavorable for a career development. Hamburg-based Eden Circus are unfazed by this and have now released their second album, Irrlicht. According to popular belief, the latter is meant to mislead unsuspecting hikers – to stay with this metaphor: As a listener, you don't know at what point this album veers towards alternative, post, or prog rock. Eden Circus follows all these tracks and incorporates them into an atmospherically dense, dark overall picture. Compared to their debut, MARULA (2014), there are mainly improvements in the sound. Irrlicht seems considerably more powerful and balanced. Fortunately, the vocals have been mixed further up front this time, although frontman Siegmar Pohl's rough voice isn't always compatible with the melodies. Furthermore, Eden Circus occasionally lose their way on Irrlicht, becoming entangled in complex structures from which they fail to find an illuminating way out, despite all their playing and compositional finesse. Nonetheless, it's an interesting album that invites exploration.