To be fair this is quite a weird one. Let me explain. First off: the reason there is no line-up mentioned is because the only person playing on every song is the drummer and leader of the band Mirka Rantanen. Secondly: the rest are all guests from all kinds of bands. If we'd list all of them the list would be longer than the review. Collaborations like these always make me nervous, because when you look at all the names mentioned as collaborators you're expecting an album with a golden edge. And what also helps my edgy nature is the seniority of Mirka Rantanen himself, as he has been around for a very long time. Over the years he has played with a lot of Finnish bands including KING COMPANY, RASKASTA JOULUA, KOTIPELTO, WARMEN, NORTHERN KINGS and REVOLUTION RENAISSANCE.

Finally, after years of working with and/or for others he's decided to release which could be considered a solo album of pure bombastic heavy metal. The name he has given it is CIRCUS OF ROCK.  It does what it says. It's an amalgamation of so many different people coming together and attempting to make a good rocking album. Have they succeeded with "Come One, Come All"? If you would ask me after the first two songs it would be a resounding yes, as "The Beat" and "Desperate Cry" are absolute world class songs. I feel Deep Purple would have been very proud to have written the latter of the two.

Unfortunately, this collaboration comes up a bit short, so after that it goes slightly downhill, as "Sheriff Of Ghost Town" and "Never" are just not as strong in comparison with the first two songs. Thankfully CIRCUS OF ROCK does recover in tunes like, as "In Times Of Despair", "Crossroads" and "Edge Of Love" have enough class compete with the first two songs on the album.

Although I admit that the music is well chosen for the vocalists and players helping the drummer out, if I add it all up, I'm afraid this just isn't one of those records that keeps ringing my bell. I can only conclude that Mirka Rantanen hasn't made this CIRCUS OF ROCK album the one I would have expected.  "Come One, Come All"  has a good sound, but should have come out a lot stronger than it actually does. Oh well, I guess you can't win them all.