Savage Circus

Power metal group Savage Circus was first imagined in 2004 by veteran German drummer Thomen Stauch (ex-Iron Savior, Lucifer's Heritage, etc.) prior to his exit from Blind Guardian. Stauch was working on new material in the vein of old Blind Guardian when former bandmate Piet Sielck (bass, rhythm guitar, and a founding member of power metal godfathers Helloween, if you didn't know) recommended he reach out to vocalist Jens Carlsson and guitarist Emil Norberg — both members of like-minded Swedish act Persuader — and gauge their interest in working together. The younger musicians jumped at the chance and, over the course of the next year, collaborated on music with Stauch and Sielck via long distance, gradually compiling enough songs to record Savage Circus' debut album, Dreamland Manor, released in 2006 by Century Media Records.