Review Summary: Caliban emerge with a 2007 release which shows that they've simply lost the ardence.
It’s a hopeful to see an influential metal band like
Caliban always up on themselves with new inspiration. Among a career of inbound style, it seems bands are all headed towards something overlapping, more intensity, groundbreaking riffs etc. With a bundle of principles and formula lodged to the music in general, notably the Killswitch vocal variation, the metalcore branch relies on what it’s been narrowed down to, not a lot, but regarded highly if a band can make use of it. But, why stick to these vitalities? Already, the word “metalcore” appears fairly complex, incorporating a style of hardcore punk and the base of all, metal. Indeed it is. For many this etymology may ring no bell at all, but to others it is lays out a number of ground rules and connotations on the table.
Caliban strive to become a metalcore influence, so one may ask oneself, are they good to go? Through such a short time in their career, it seems they’re well on their way. In reality, the lowly
Caliban I used to snub remains the same, thanks to the
The Awakening.
I hate myself for feeling that this genre in particular is always the black sheep of its counterparts. It’s a stereotype from my part, nevertheless, I’m just as angry, maybe with a little bit of relief, when any band comes along and breaks my labelling in half. With
Caliban constantly flucuating in their particular style throughout albums, it’s hard not to obliviously turn a blind eye on many. If it really is a question of perfection, then the German quintet have still not shown signs of stopping until they’re there, but if it doesn’t get any better than this, then it’s the end of the line. Their debut album would have been a good place to leave it off, but with a single album, their career would have been down the toilet. With such an overpopulated genre of derivative artists, we’ve now a perfectly good image of what is generic, and also more pressure on
Caliban to recreate innovation. Lately, Caliban has been falling in to the vicious mob of genericness, in an album that doesn't have the right feel to it. I’m not wit at all, so I will not be able to interest you in a sarcastic comment tonight. Let’s cut to the chase.
Certainly,
Caliban is giving fans what they want, and this time they’ve spotted a good weakness of mine. Choruses have always been
Caliban’s thing, and here they take on what they do best, even better. Andreas Dorner has acquired a higher range to his voice, but it still won’t budge to anything as low as a growl or grunt. Exploiting his comfort range of raspy and phlegm-y screams is only playing it smart in the field, and a good improvement featured to the clean vocals from Denis Schmidt has had equal impact on how the songs stand out. The first track starts of with a rather recycled staccato, which then leads into a breakdown topped off with a fill.
I Will Never Let You Down, is rather bland with questionable versatility, with a rather good chorus a la Killswitch Engage. That along with a catchy verse is what makes this a crucial kick into the album, despite the fact that it’s a bit too “
Caliban”; reminiscent of their older material.
Ah, Breakdowns. As sophisticated as I think they are (guess I didn’t leave it to sincerity after all), this instance of heaviness can be taken really far, but in the end they still confine the music to metalcore, which again bears testament of how full of technicalities and how picky this genre really is.
Another Cold Day, if I am not mistaken, commences with this infamous property known as the breakdown, led through a song structure to the biggest surprise of the album: a chorus that isn’t cleanly sung. All contempt aside, this song actually turns out to sound quite powerful, with an almost black metal vocal which turned a bland melody rather smooth and different from the
Caliban stuff I’m used to. A rather blatant problem with
Caliban however is their transition, and as I’ve noticed with many other bands of this sort, they lack a smooth flow, and the structure is easily distinguished. Sure, I like the verses, the bridges and then the choruses, but I’d like to enjoy the song as an entirety, and not have these song parts thrown in and blended together. A transition can secure a vibe and complicit feel to the song, and unfortunately, it’s bizarre that
Caliban is able to have great choruses but very mediocre build-ups. Consequently, it takes away from what could have been a good album. With things not fitting perfectly together; there is just nothing there. And so enter the 4th single on the album,
My Time Has Come where most parts actually fit, but are safely played to divert attention. An overlapping of vocals to the chorus effectively does this, and you barely start to notice the relenting of the guitars with the overpowering vocals. The song has quite a good intro as well, with a distorted vocal to complement the breakdown, and it’s one of those tracks you can actually find yourself listening to on a regular basis, but which will bore you pretty soon.
While there are mixed emotions about several of the tracks on the album, there is one among them that strikes heavily. Featuring a staggering lead, which abruptly follows into probably a very good chorus,
I Believe… is a sentimental boulder. It’s really something you will need to check out to decide for yourself. Again, when listening to metalcore, you need to adapt a different mindset. It’s about indulgence, and even though there may not be as much instrumental proficiency compared to genres such as Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash etc. it’s still there to give you the chills, in it’s own messed up way. But it’s about other things too. Last but not least,
I’ll Show No Fear is down-to-earth and stands out as being one of the best tracks on the album, with instrumental features which are actually a tad a brutal and technically fitting, while possessing a bittersweet chorus. But, it all meekly holds up.
Caliban have simply lost the ardence in what is their latest release, it sounds almost like a replica of "The Undying Darkness". It seems with all the encompassing influences these days, Caliban have pretty much been engulfed by secondary style. With some technical faults, the show must go on for the band, and becoming a big-hitting name is no piece of cake in the industry. What with breakdowns, particular texture, and all that is the notorious metalcore, these guys are on a pretty tight leash, they don't make music which really comes from the aortic pump. The media muddling things up and the new-wave of metal bounding in, the German quintet have still, and maybe only their musical intelligence to get far, but even
The Awakening, a succulent release, shows they haven't had their thinking caps on this time.
Key Tracks:
- I Will Never Let You Down
- My Time Has Come
- I Believe…
