The Opposite from Within

When word came through that Roadrunner had signed German Metalcore act Caliban, the alarm bells rang loud and clear. With Metalcore being the new ‘trend’ sound of the decade, most of the big metal labels have made sure that they have their finger on the pulse. Metal Blade has Unearth and Cataract; Century Media have Heaven Shall Burn and Shadows Fall – if you love this sound, each are killer bands to listen to. However, it is with the massive success of Killswitch Engage that has really seen this style become the giant that it is. Roadrunner knows this only too well – and to capitalise they have made sure to grab a slice of the next lot of up and coming Metalcore acts. Enter Caliban.

Caliban has been one of Germany’s leading Metalcore acts over the last few years. ‘The Opposite From Within’ is actually their fourth studio effort. Most punters rate their ‘Vent’ disc as a truly killer European Metalcore album. Last years ‘Shadow Hearts’ disc split their fan base a little with the addition of a more melodic component to their sound. Personally, I rated that disc very highly mainly because of it’s authentic ‘euro’ sound and its slightly thrash metal orientation. However, it must be stated that those who were concerned with the direction of that album are going to be mortified with what Caliban have done on ‘TOFW’.

As a fan of Caliban’s previous material, I must admit to being a little disappointed in the direction of this new album. But make no mistake, with Andy Sneap (mixing/mastering) and In Flames Anders Fridén (producing) behind the desk for this album, ‘TOFW’ sounds absolutely phenomenal. Blistering riffs and frenetic drumming fly from all angles and with the acerbic vocal of Andreas Dorner tearing it up throughout, there is much to enjoy on this album. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that Caliban has changed. The less cynical might say that Caliban have ‘matured’ or become a bit more ‘adventurous’. And that may all be true – yet, from my standpoint Caliban have gone from being a EUROPEAN Metalcore act that embraced a more authentic metal vibe to one that is purely AMERICAN in sound. Their sound is a straight homogenization of what it once was. And it’s all Killswitch Engage’s fault.

The KSWE formula is all over this album. The songs on ‘TOFW’ all follow a pretty standard KSWE template. Sure, those killer staccato, stop-start chugging riffs and mosh part sections cannot be denied, however it is the ‘bleeding heart’ clean vocal elements that Caliban employ that reek of a an even more familiar smell. There is a track on ‘TOFW’ entitled ‘Certainty..Corpses Bleed Cold’ – listen to it and tell me that it doesn’t reek of KSWE ‘My Last Serenade’? Without question, a killer Killswitch track (among many others), but this is the type of band Caliban has become. If you know KSWE’s well-established sound and style, then Caliban are their TWIN brother - they’re that close!! If ‘Shadow Hearts’ polarized Caliban’s fan base, then I’d suggest there would be even more disgruntled punters are hearing this one. Conversely, there will be thousands of others worshipping the albums every note.

As much as I loathe the ‘Americanised’ direction of ‘TOFW’ I can’t help but revel in the overall quality of the album. It is a formulaic style of Metalcore that they now embrace, but it’s been done so damn well that it’s hard to ignore. Whilst Caliban isn’t quite as brutal as they once were ‘TOFW’ is still a heavy fucker of an album. The twist is that the hooks, the melodic vocal lines and breakdowns have become even more ominous. This material will go down a storm in the live setting.

Although nowhere near as original and unique as they once, Caliban has now moved into major player territory. Sure to gain many more fans than they lose ‘TOFW’ is a massive sounding record. If you can deal with their blatant KSWE tendencies then you’ll enjoy this album immensely. But don’t say you weren’t warned.

Caliban shopped around with their finished album that they've recorded with Anders Friden (In Flames) this January for some time and after several negotiations they've landed on Roadrunner Records.

Caliban is beside Heaven Shall Burn Germany's hottest metalcore export; they also introduce a new member with bassist Boris Pracht (ex– Copykill).

The first thing that I recognized is that singer Andy improved his vocal style and comes along without too many shrieks, his vocals are more angry and rougher now without loosing the aggression and that's definitely an improvement.

They start off with "The Beloved And The Hatred" which is already available as mp3 for a while and before they start a moshing mid-tempo attack they warm up with a few calmer rhythms and before you get used to the following mosh-metal piece they add an emotional part with clean singing and it seems that this time vocalist Andy also did these clean singing parts by himself.

On last album the singer of Mournful did all these harmonic singing parts! They throw in such emotional parts between their blasting metal attacks. This is another impression of mine, of course Caliban improved their metal pieces especially there melodic metal leads but they offer even more emotional stuff than on the last record.

The second track starts with fast metal and is alternated by double-bass driven mosh till they slow down with another harmonic piece and clean singing. These parts are pretty cool because of the improved vocal work and the clean singing is really good but it's sometimes too much, I wish they would step on the accelerator more often and kick some Asses.

"I've Sold Myself" is the way I like Caliban, fast and raw metalcore with straight up metal paired with rough vocals and moshing breaks although they add a few playfully riffs. Especially the end of the song is cool with a high-speed melodic metal part combined with their down-moshing hardcore.

Caliban dhave made a step forward and it's their best album since "A Small Boy And A Grey Heaven" but from my point of view they should reduce those emotional parts a little bit, apart from that they perfected their own style of Slayer styled metal combined with double-bass mosh breaks and this time they also added a lot of melodic guitars. Good! but cut THE EMO SHIT!!!!!