#FeatureFriday – Puppetizer by Circus Bizarre

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Puppetizer by Circus Bizarre

@yasmeleon.bsky.social

“Step right up. The tent is open, the lights are on, and every act has a different morbid, critical or intimate story to tell.

“Puppetizer” is our debut album.
Eleven songs of catchy, electronically tinged metal, carried by vocals that range from soft and mysterious through playful to outright vicious. Behind the curtain grooving riffs meet enchanting synths, with a handful of stylistic detours along the way cause we still like to experiment.

Each song is its own act, told by a different figure – a puppeteer, a witch, a scavenger queen, a scientist who won’t accept that the dead stay dead. Most of them are in English, a few in German, but there’s a thing they have in common: the female perspective – oh, and they’re rather, well, just a tiny bit dangerous.”

Sometimes it feels good to feel a little bad. Horror movies never seem to go out of style. To be a human in this world is harrowing on a good day, and everyone experiences dark moods and heavy days. When these uneasy feelings can be understood and expressed by another person, especially when created with verve and wit, the effect can be cathartic, even euphoric.
Circus Bizarre is an aptly named band. This music sounds like smoke and mirrors, like sinister stage acts and daredevils in sequins. It’s carnival music, blended skillfully with a heavy metal aesthetic. The result is triumphant. Listening, one imagines the singer posed with one foot on a mountain of skulls, planting a flag for survival.
If all of this sounds over the top, it’s because it is, but joyfully and beautifully so. As a fan of the German language, I thought it was delivered with enjoyable intensity, and I found the lyrics clever and resonant. (Also, thanks to Florgoth for providing us with English translations.)
I don’t think this will be for everyone, but good things rarely are. This album is all about atmosphere, and if you’re in the right mood, it will envelop you like fog around a full moon.

E.A

One thing that is often overlooked when Metal is talked about, is how theatrical it is. In a way that is not unlike Opera, it works with exaggerated emotion; every heartbreak is pure agony, every achievement a triumph and any insult can only be paid back in blood. And sometimes you find a band that wears this theatricality on their sleeves.

Circus Bizarre’s style is possibly the most traditional Heavy Metal that we had on here so far. The guitar has a nice chunky tone, the bass does some intricate runs and the drums are absolutely steady and dynamic. Synths do a lot of the heavy lifting in the melodic department, while also being used to add atmospheric effect when called for. By their playing alone, it’s pretty clear that the band is highly skilled.

While there were and are many bands with a similar sound than them, Circus Bizarre have something that sets them apart: vocalist Jasmin Elisabeth Wanner aka Yasmeleon. Her ability to give an emotive performance is frankly amazing; at times it seems that she is more acting than singing in exactly that exaggerated style I mentioned before. And that is on top of a rock-solid technique and great flexibility. In one moment, she delivers a warm and seductive tone, in others she lets loose a gritty roar that Doro Pesch would be proud of. Jasmin simply has the kind of voice that tells you immediately that there is a great deal of experience and passion behind it.

And this kind of emotive work is perfect for the lyrics about bloody revenge, murderous tendencies and general dark weirdness. I would not call even the more overtly political songs “Lilith Vulgata” and “Wahre Hexen” strictly feminist, but there is an unmistakably female touch to them, although they play with stereotypes. The lyrics turn more “traditional” takes on their head by putting the protagonist in a deliberately aggressive and proactive role.

Overall, this is an album that I very highly recommend. I find Circus Bizarre’s songs very approachable and catchy, which is not something you can say about that many Metal bands, and their singer is quite phenomenal. If there is something I could criticize, it’s the lack of guitar solos and a slight over-reliance on the keys. But that feels like nitpicking when the album is as good and fun as it is. Considering that this was their debut release, and they therefore still have room to grow, I’m very optimistic about what they can deliver in the future. Thumbs way up!

Florgoth

I Love and idea, a concept that is leaned into, fully committed and fuck the rest. Itr’s an old concept, but a goody. One deployed by Alice Cooper and The Cramps and more recently Twin Temple. The theatrical is often given a sideways look but when it’s backed up by music this good it is an easy buy.

IWhat Circus Bizarre do really well is mix metal with punk and solid songwriting, the nearest comparison I can make is imagine early Alice Cooper and Hazel O’Connor getting heavy. It’s got an old school metal feel with an alternative edge, it has simple riffs, it’s not fussy, because it has a secret weapon, a weapon of mass destruction, a devastating weather event in vocalist, asmin Elisabeth Wanner aka Yasmeleon.

Good grief she delivers on this album, you think that”s a knife? Yasmeleon comes along, snarl on the lip, insanity behind the teeth and a voice that comes from the spiked biker boots or 20 inch stilettos. Let’s be honest here, she is the star of the show, my god, if you have this kind of voice and characterization in you rocker you deploy it. And that is where the band shines most, they allow it to happen, they build the music like a funeral pyre high and proud to give it  fuel.

I’m mixing my metaphors but jumping Jesus on a cross this album is terrific, and fun.

Fun as fuck and some.

Untidy Music

Updated: November 13, 2026 — 6:29 am

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