It’s quite weird when people call straight rock’n’roll bands like Circus Diablo alternative. Since when has plain rock music become alternative to something? There’s a fear when big names get together that the result may be a whole bunch weaker than the sum of their potential parts. However, Billy Morrison, Billy Duffy (both from The Cult), Brett Scallions, Jeremy Colson and Ricky Warwick (former guitar player and voice of the Scottish 90’s hope The Almighty) formed this super group one year ago with the ultimate idea of delivering good quality hard rock that had been missed by many since the decay of the genre in the late 80’s. This self-titled debut contains material that is to say the least catchy as hell for all Velvet Revolver geeks. Elderly gentlemen who are heavily into Rolling Stones will also be delighted with the medium-paced riffs, augmented by a really powerful rhythm section and stand-out old-school vocal lines. Despite the punchy stuff delivered with honesty and energy, “Circus Diablo” doesn’t offer groundbreaking masterpieces of songwriting, which everyone might be expecting from the people involved. And there it goes. The first and the last problem with this record: It’s the inevitable comparison with Velvet Revolver, which results in unsurprising accumulation of negative points for Circus. I expected a lot more from a line-up consisting of people from such pioneering bands in the past. Of course they could do much worse than punk rock ass-kicking songs like “Loaded” and “So Fine”, and the Adam & The Ants cover “Ants Invasion” is totally fuckin’ brilliant, but still the album lacks the shining luster that could make Circus Diablo worth headlining big festival arenas like Velvet Revolver do on a daily basis.