Metal Band of the Week:
Caliban
August 29, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: Band, Caliban, Metal, Music, Review
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A five-piece German band known as Caliban may very well be one of the future cornerstones of the metal scene, having honed their aggressive-yet-melodic sound, over the course of seven albums in ten years, to perfection. The newest album, “Say Hello to Tragedy”, was released on August 25, 2009 and showcases their accumulated talents in a manner that is both brutal and palatable.
Caliban began as a strictly hardcore band in 1997, releasing one EP and two demos before being signed to their first major label – after a few different deals, they currently are signed with Century Media Records worldwide. Due to the label support the band received, almost from their formation, their progression is visible from the first full-length album, “A Small Boy and a Grey Heaven”, to “Say Hello to Tragedy”.
The first two albums, “A Small Boy and a Grey Heaven” in 1999 and “Vent” in 2001, are distinctively hardcore, with thrash overtones, but by the third album, “Shadow Hearts” in 2003, the band had obviously begun to branch out musically, as more melody creeped into their overall sound. The release of “Opposite From Within” in 2004 continued their evolution, in experimentation with acoustic guitars, melodic singing, and song structures closer to metalcore than “true” hardcore.
It is with their 2004 release that the future reinvention of Caliban can be seen as the inevitable endpoint of their experimentation, and the vocals even began to mature into something closer to their modern form. Similarities can be drawn during this period to Killswitch Engage, who had just begun a similar change in sound, which is no mere coincidence, since Anders Fridén (In Flames, vocals) produced the album.
By the time “The Undying Darkness” was released in 2006, once again produced by Fridén, the band now lay firmly in metalcore territory, incorporating more melody and singing than ever, while using slower, more palatable time signatures. The new sound, possibly due to being less harsh, was rewarded with a large European tour, and greater exposure than ever before. But, as previously, hints of their next self-reinvention could be found throughout the album in both song structure and vocals.
“The Awakening”, released in 2007, marked the emergence of the sound that is modern Caliban: brutal, melodic, heavy, memorable, and epic. All the elements of their former selves are visible – their hardcore origins, a metalcore period, Fridén’s vocal influence – and combined with something new to produce songs that manage to be faster, stronger, and heavier than ever, without depending on genre formulas or being unlistenable. For this album, and for their modern sound as a whole, combinatorial references can be made to Soilwork, In Flames, and Arch Enemy.
With their recent release, “Say Hello to Tragedy”, the band has come full-circle, embracing their roots in hardcore while still favoring their more matured modern sound. The album opens with the brutally harsh “24 Years” that is more akin to black metal than anything they’ve ever done, as if to prove that they can still “play like Slayer” when they want to. But the track immediately following, “Love Song”, slides back into firm Caliban territory, as does the rest of the album, which includes an Unbroken cover of “In the Name of Progression”.
The genre-mashing that Caliban favors so heavily has resulted in a very unique and highly distinguishable sound that sets them apart from almost all other metal bands, enabling metalheads of all backgrounds to enjoy their music. Anthems, brutality, breakdowns, melody, harsh vocals, singing, epic moments, orchestral arrangements, and guitar solos – it all can be found in all the glorious elemental synchronization locked solidly within the band’s near-hour newest release.
Currently on tour in the U.S., Caliban can be found on MySpace; their newest album, “Say Hello to Tragedy” [CD] [MP3], is available on Amazon, along with their other full-length albums: “The Awakening” [CD], “The Undying Darkness” [CD], “Opposite From Within” [CD], “Shadow Hearts” [CD] [MP3], “Vent” [CD] [MP3], and “A Small Boy and a Grey Heaven” [CD] [MP3]. Their co-releases with Heaven Shall Burn can also be found on Amazon: “The Split Program I” [CD] [MP3], “The Split Program II” [CD] [MP3].
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
