Michael Eriksen

Michael Eriksen — Norwegian vocalist, born in 1977 — has been Circus Maximus's voice since the band's founding in 2000, and is one of the most recognisable singers in 2000s European progressive metal. Circus Maximus emerged in Oslo at a moment when progressive metal was territory dominated by Dream Theater and Symphony X, with heavy emphasis on instrumental virtuosity. What set the Norwegian band apart was precisely the weight given to vocal melody: the songs on The 1st Chapter (2005) and above all Isolate (2007) are built around memorable sung lines, not around solos. That demands a singer of a specific quality. Eriksen has a clean tone, comfortable range in the upper register and — rarer still — dynamic control: he sings quietly when the music asks for restraint, the opposite of the genre's constant-power standard. He is on all four of the group's records, including Nine (2012) and Havoc (2016), the most direct and heavy of the discography. Across nearly 25 years of the band, he is the constant that let Circus Maximus occupy a space of its own between progressive metal and Scandinavian melodic rock.