Review Summary: Classic 80's Metal With A Touch Of Modernity
The year is 1980: the beginning of a decade that saw a huge increase in heavy metal bands and overall popularity. In the UK, a couple of bands called Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are taking over the United Kingdom with mainstream acclaim and hot on their heels are NWOBHM icons Saxon having just realised their sophomore album ‘Wheels Of Steel’. Meanwhile in America, “The Big 4” are starting to fuse the speed of Motorhead with the weight of Black Sabbath to form their own subgenre of ‘thrash metal’. As for you, the patches on your denim jacket are steadily starting to grow and so is your collection of vinyl records. This is the world that Toronto trio, Cauldron, continue to live in.
Though forming in 2006, Cauldron’s sound and image must have been frozen in carbonate in the aforementioned year to reinvigorate the NWOBHM image in the decades to come. And how is that going? Slowly is the short answer. Releasing 3 albums in 7 years, their most recent being ‘Tomorrow’s Lost’ in 2012 seems to give the duration between Metallica’s release dates a run for their money. However, just like most bands that started in 1980, they feel most comfortable in intimate gigs being a relatively unknown band yet still with a dedicated fan base that still have total respect for the one thing that matters in heavy metal: the music.
The production to the album is a double-edged sword. Negatively, it sounds quiet and at times fuzzy, that is noticeable on ‘Born To Struggle’, as if it was recorded in a make shift studio. However the raw, perhaps authentic, nature of this production (particularly on the same song) also emits some strange comforting feeling that has you reminiscing that all the greats sounded like this once and let’s face it-it worked out pretty well for them in the end.
Standing at less than 40 minutes across 9 songs, ‘Tomorrow’s Lost’ remains as direct and focused as its predecessors and ancestors. They fire through each song with razor sharp precision on each of their instruments. Chris Rite’s Motorhead-esque drumming provides a fast and powerful backbone to the unwavering metal tone on ‘Burning Fortune’. Jason Decay isn’t exactly Cliff Burton Jr. on bass but he provides strong, accessible lyrics and many vocal hooks throughout the album that stand out on ‘Nitebreaker’ and ‘Fight For Day’. Guitarist, Ian Chains shines on some of the more riff driven songs such as ‘Summoned To Succumb’ and ‘End Of Time’ that drive along at a rate that keeps you energised and hungry for more. Admittedly, solos do bombard you at times as simply a new feature in an attempt to keep the song interesting and not duplicative.
The main strength to Cauldron’s third album is the nostalgia trip that comes free of charge. Heavy metal has spawned so many genres within genres in this modern age that at times it seems directionless. Therefore the title of ‘Tomorrow’s Lost’ sums up the purposeful style of classic rock/metal that Cauldron incorporate in their music that was once such a focal point back in the day.
