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, Cauldronare 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 Leppardis 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, Rushand 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.
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