Sunday, September 23, 2018

Cauldron "New Gods"




   The evolution of Cauldron is quite fascinating and their new album, “New Gods,” is yet another strong effort from the Canadian power trio. From a young and hungry band offering blistering riffs of classic metal fury to a more melodic hard rock attitude, Cauldron is beginning to find the right blend of heaviness and melody to where the songs really standout.

   On their previous album, “In Ruin,” I definitely noticed the band focusing more on developing strong songs and the overall production of that album was simply amazing. The band's 2007 debut EP, “Into the Cauldron,” came out during a time when a lot of young metal bands were trying to emulate the classic acts by creating heavy riffs and throwing around lightening fast guitar parts. I am glad Cauldron never participated in the speed war by showing off how fast they could play and I think that the band’s focus on solid musicianship plus strong songwriting skills has led us to the current release, “New Gods.”

   As I said earlier, “In Ruin,” was exceptional in terms of production, so I was extremely impressed with how they carried that sound over onto the new album. The drums sounded great along with the guitar and bass sound which highlights the bands ability to craft some killer classic metal sounding music Also, I thought bassist and vocalist, Jason Decay, sounded great throughout the album and his vocal abilities do not disappoint.

   From the start of this album to the very end, Cauldron deals a strong selection of tracks. The album opens with the fierce hard rocking song, “Prisoner of the Past,” which I think sets the tone for the album by presenting a tight rhythm section and crushing main riff. Guitarist Ian Chains is an outstanding player who may not be the most flashy and overly technical guitarists around, but he gets the job done and knows how to construct heavy riffs that convey raw emotion. I thought the guitar solos on tracks like, “No Longer” and “Never Be Found,” were well executed and did not throw around random notes, or go off into pointless directions.

   Other tracks I wish to highlight are, “Save the Truth/Syracuse,” “Isolation” and “Together As None.” On, “Save the Truth/Syracuse,” the band hammers out a heavy dose of classic metal riffs and bold sounding drum parts. I feel like drummer, Myles Deck, provides a powerful punch on this song and throughout the album he is the beating pulse of this band when pertaining to rhythm. “Isolation,” is an instrumental composition stands out from the other tracks and in the end demonstrates the band’s musical creativity along with their ability to depart from what one would expect. Although I think the song on this album that vividly stood out for me was, “Together As None.” The song features a well built chorus section and the lyrics were extremely well written to compliment the instrumental composition. In this day and age I feel so many bands fail to capture the essence of their sound with solid lyrical content and this song was rather refreshing to hear.

   I believe Cauldron did a tremendous job on, “New Gods,” by conveying a classic metal sound, yet found a way to make the music sound distinct and strengthen their musical identity. Fans will enjoy the balance of classic metal riffs with a more melodic hard rock touch and compared to most of the music coming out, there is no real filler because each song is written with purpose and meaning. There is no slowing down for this band and I foresee them continuing to pour their die hard classic metal worshipping hearts and souls on future releases.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Review: Altars "Self-Titled EP"




    Drowning listeners in an endless black sea of hellish sounding death metal, the San Jose,CA based band known as, Altars, unleashes a merciless assault of extreme terror on their self-titled debut EP. 

    The band offers up four explosive tracks containing a sinister sound and attitude similar to that of classic death metal and grindcore bands that laid the foundation for extreme music. These musicians do not hesitate when pertaining to brutality and the music simply suffocates and possesses your overall senses. I also liked how the four tracks flowed and you get little to catch your breath on this EP. The opening track, “Unholy Retribution,” begins with a burst of distorted feedback to create an abysmal and very terrifying atmosphere, which eventually turns into a massive hurricane of vicious death metal. I thought the musicianship was rather impressive overall and the recording quality of each instrument is well captured throughout the release. 

    The second track on the album, “Conqueror,” is definitely more of a fast paced old school grindcore like piece and contains some extreme rapid fire drumming and riffs. I feel like the music comes and goes leaving behind a decimated wasteland of complete and utter carnage. The third song, “Ancient Plague,” I felt was a more dynamic sounding track compared to the first two. In the beginning on the song the band does an impressive job building up a very bleak and doom like sounding atmosphere before dragging listeners down into a swamp of distorted chaos. “Black Magic,” wraps up the EP with more bellicose sounding death metal riffs and demonic growls. The singer even lets out a blood curdling scream in the middle of the song which adds to the already horror like and fear inducing atmosphere.

    Overall, I think Altars presented some solid music with their debut EP and leaves me wanting more from this band. The musicianship did not disappoint along with the band’s ability to construct terrorizing atmospheres of brutal death metal. Also, Altars is yet another impressive act to have their music released on Sentient Ruin Laboratories, which is a label that continues to deliver some of the best up and coming extreme music acts around. In the end, there is some killer music being conjured up in San Jose, CA that I hope continues to strike fear in the hearts of priests and may one day awaken the destructive forces from starless voids beyond.


Altars "Conqueror" :




Altars Bandcamp:

altars666.bandcamp.com

Sentient Ruin Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/SentientRuin/