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This is 'Liberation through Amplification.'
By: Richard Maw Album Type: EP Date Released: 22/02/2019 Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
“Eye of The Storm” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1).
Eye of the Storm
2).
Shadows
3).
My Only Wish
4).
Celestial Glow
The Review:
Another
four track EP from these Californian denizens of doom. Since flying Rise Above's nest for
creative control and a much busier release schedule, Trevor William Church and
friends have worked hard to put out a lot of new music. Haunt (Church's other
band) may be making a lot of waves these days, deservedly so, but I think Beastmaker are the
better of the two bands.
Truthfully,
there is a lot of Pagan
Altar/Witchfinder General/Angel Witch et al present here- just as
there is in Haunt's
output- but that does not dilute the power here at all. The title track comes
across like Cauldron
slowing down and playing doom, whilst “Shadows” sounds as British as can
be- to hear it is to recognise a band seemingly straight out of Birmingham, not
sunny California.
If you want melodic traditional heavy metal with a
penchant for hard rock sensibilities, there are few bands better and you won't
hear a better album of that style than this one released in 2018.
“New Gods” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Prisoner of the Past
2. Letting Go
3. No Longer
4. Save the Truth – Syracuse
5. Never Be Found
6. Drown
7. Together as None
8. Isolation
9. Last Request
The Review:
Cauldron are back, close to three
years after “In Ruin” and are not straying too far from their original raison
d'etre: old school heavy metal, old school sounds, old school songs. Yep, Cauldron
are plugging away; on the road, in the studio, presumably in a less than
salubrious rehearsal room... Cauldron keep on keeping on.
“Prisoner of The Past” picks up where “In Ruin”
left off, with tight and crunchy riffage- plus a dose of melody of course. The
drums still thud like 83, rather than snapping like 2018 and reverb is present
on the vocals and, indeed, all instruments. “Letting Go” is a melodic and dark track as the title suggests; with
both of the first two tracks sounding like a wound down Accept, musically, if not
vocally. Nice chorus and anthemic riffs combine to good effect.
Truthfully,
I think the likes of “No Longer”
could stand to be a little shorter (oh sweet prescient irony), but these are
not thrashing and urgent tracks. They are hard rocking, but with quite some
emphasis on rock rather than metal this time out. Again, the spectre of early Leppard
is present at this feast- but it is a welcome apparition. The darkness of “Save The Truth- Syracuse” is well honed
as the band again find their mid tempo groove.
“Never Be Found” doesn't move things
around too much in terms of initial approach but the pre-chorus and chorus
really lift this up. Great song writing and hooks. “Drown” sounds like a prime Paradise Lost track at first- a turn up for
the books, but I was waiting for the tempo to lift and it did! This time, the
band rip out some more thrashy riffs and it is a welcome throw back to the “Chained
To The Nite” opus. Great cut.
“Together as None” is very light weight in
comparison- there is plenty of light and shade on this album, for sure, but
this particular track is a little too (bitter) sweet for my tastes and could
easily have turned up on any hair metal album you could care to name. “Isolation”, meanwhile, fulfils its
titular promise of dark sounds, being as it is an instrumental and a good one. It's
maudlin and brooding and one of the best things on the record. It sets thing up
nicely for the appropriate “Last Request”
which is another album highlight; a little quicker, a little heavier, a little
more bite.
“New
Gods” represents both more of the same for Cauldron and is also leaning a bit further
towards the melodic song writing present on all their releases thus far. For
me, I yearn for some of the crunchier riffage that was present on earlier
career tracks such as “Conjure The Mass”,
but no one can deny the quality of the songs here. If you want melodic
traditional heavy metal with a penchant for hard rock sensibilities, there are
few bands better and you won't hear a better album of that style than this one
released in 2018.
Fitting in squarely with the likes of Cauldron,
this is heavy metal of the old school done correctly and with affection. If you
want traditional sounds with a dark edge to the songs, this is most assuredly
for you.
“Luminous Eyes” CD//CS//DD//LP
1). Luminous Eyes
2). As Fire Burns
3). No Master
4). Fallen Star
The Review:
Haunt are brought to you by
Trevor William Church of Beastmaker fame. This is four tracks of pure
NWOBHM (or should that be NWOTHM?!) worship. Expect traditional sounds; solos,
raw sounding drums, galloping rhythms and also a fair amount of melancholy.
Pitched somewhere between Maiden and Angel Witch, this is straight up
heavy metal. The title track is rather slow burning and thoughtful but things
heat up appropriately with “As Fire
Burns”. The track rocks hard and features a kind of revved up Witchfinder
General vibe paired with a victory /vengeance-shall-be-mine theme.
Killer.
The
quality and energy level is kept right up there with “No Master”, which features the type of riffage which, had this been
made by a band in 1981 from, say, Newcastle, would have inspiredMetallica to cover it many years later. The EP
closes with the grandiose sounding “Fallen
Star”- all widdly leads and riffs, coupled with the loping gallop that the
EP exhibits at various times throughout.
Fitting
in squarely with the likes of Cauldron, this is heavy metal of the old
school done correctly and with affection. If you want traditional sounds with a
dark edge to the songs, this is most assuredly for you.
Despite
the bad rep we have for being the home of Justin Bieber, Nickelback and Celine Dionne,
we Canucks actually have a shit ton of great bands. From classic rock icons
like Neil
Young and The Guess Who to heavy metal legends like Voivod,
Helix,
Rush
and Strapping
Young Lad, there is no shortage of great music from the land of the
great white north.For
this Canada Day I've come up with a list of five of my favourite Canadian
albums for you to rock out to. These are in no particular order. Crank em up
and let me know if you enjoy:
Loverboy – “Big Ones”
Are
they metal or are they rock? Who knows and who cares. While the band probably
fits more into the AOR/Hard rock label than metal per se, they still have a ton
of classic songs. Who hasn't rocked out at some point to tracks like
"Working For the Weekend", "Hot Girls in Love" or
"Lovin Every Minute of It"? No one.
Cauldron – “Burning Fortune”
Cauldron are one of those bands
that people seem to love or hate. The band's blend of trad metal with thrash
pays homage to the 80's while also sounding fresh at the same time. While it's
tough to pick just one of their album's I'd probably say that “Burning Fortune" is probably my favorite
overall, beating "Into the
Cauldron" by a hair.
Skid Row – “Skid Row”
Before
anyone pipes up-Yes I know Skid Row is technically from New Jersey, but Sebastian Bach is Canadian,
so fuck you I'm counting it. While the band is commonly lumped in with glam
metal, the fact is that Skid Row always leaned more towards the heavy
side of things. The band's debut album is a beast and one of the best heavy
meta albums of all times with classics like "Big Guns","Sweet
Little Sister","18 and
Life" and "Youth Gone
Wild".
Goat Horn – “Threatening Force”
Vastly
underrated band that features Jason Decay pre-Cauldron. While the band isn't
too far off stylistically from what Jason did later in Cauldron, the band made a ton of great songs before eventually
splitting up. Recommended tracks "Threatening
Force" and "Right Heavy
Metal".
Mitochondrion – “Parasignosis”
Awesome
blackened death metal band from Vancouver.
While it's not exactly music to party to, you can't deny that this is one of the
best extreme metal albums of the last 10 years.
The riffing of “Burning At Both Ends” is pure Accept, adding a teutonic flavour to the Canadians' Brit worship. The reverb soaked drums and higher tempo of “Santa Mira” is pure 80's metal while the more sombre “Corridors of Dust” echoes the sounds and hooks of “Chained To The Night”.This is an homage, pure and simple. Music from the past, being played today and with modern chops and studio equipment that can accurately create the sound that the band want to hear. They sit as a dependable and impressive retro outfit. Kind of the Overkill of retro metal, perhaps? And that is a very high compliment, by the way.
“In Ruin” CD//LP track listing:
1). No Return / In Ruin
2). Empress
3). Burning at Both Ends
4). Hold Your Fire
5). Come Not Here
6). Santa Mira
7). Corridors of Dust
8). Delusive Serenade
9). Outrance
The Review:
Cauldron are Canada's finest NWOBHM style export and they havea rather unique sound, combing as it does the grit of early Maiden or even Motorhead and RTL era Metallica with avocal approach that is similar to Def Leppard in terms of sound and melody. Having only heard their first album “Chained To The Night” I was interested to see where the band had gone on this record. Certainly, the 80's drum sound is present here, as are the kind of melodic thrash breaks that peppered my other listening experience of them. The first (quasi) title track is a belter for sure and is absolutely committed to the recreation of the past. No modern sounds here, this could genuinely have been put out on amajor label thirty plus years ago and no eyelids would have been batted.
There is an acoustic intro to “Empress”, and you know exactly how the track is going to sound as the first electric power chord crashes in. It would seem that the spirit of Diamond Head really lives on here. The choruses are catchy and the melodies are of a high quality throughout. The snare drum, in the style of 1981-1987 or so, is wet and hollow sounding. The riffing of “Burning At Both Ends” is pure Accept, adding a teutonic flavour to the Canadians' Brit worship. The reverb soaked drums and higher tempo of “Santa Mira” is pure 80's metal while the more sombre “Corridors of Dust” echoes the sounds and hooks of “Chained To The Night”
The Likes of “Hold Your Fire” and Come Not Here are enjoyable mid-tempo romps through steady Priest-esque riff territory. You get the themes of witchcraft of course, as well as themes of excess and so on. I must impress upon anyone reading this that this is not a step forward in any way: not for the band, not for the metal genre, not even for retrogressive metal. This is an homage, pure and simple. Music from the past, being played today and with modern chops and studio equipment that can accurately create the sound that the band want to hear.
The slower instrumental track “Delusive Serenade”takes in the melodic lessons of early Metallica and creates a moody and effective dirge. The excellently titled “Outrance” swings forth in a final statement of intent. It is a fitting closing to a good, solid record. Cauldron may not have the “cool” factor that a band such as In Solitude had, but they are not nerdish like Natur, either. They sit as a dependable and impressive retro outfit. Kind of the Overkill of retro metal, perhaps? And that is a very high compliment, by the way.
