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Man does not live by bread alone. Or, more
specifically in my case, a proghead cannot live on symphonic
progressive rock alone. Occasionally I must take a look
and give a listen to other styles of rock music, and sometimes
something pretty extreme will capture my interest. The object
of my fascination today, gentle reader, is an outfit from
the great white north (Calgary, Canada in fact) that calls
themselves Caveat. Caveat, you may recall, is an admonition,
a warning, a caution, and if anything that you might hear
deserves a warning, then it is Red, the latest disc from
Caveat.***
This disc was pitched to me as being progressive
metal and I guess I’ll go for that description. You can
call it progressive hardcore, death metal, speed metal,
doom metal, …..I don’t care. Just call it good music. This
stuff is usually 120, 150 beats per minute or more, with
machine gun double bass pounding out a merciless tempo,
singing that ranges from pissed off ranting to full on death
vox and unrelenting riffing that will kick the listener
in the gut over and over again, yet there are loads of very
cleverly crafted musical details going on all the time in
every song and that is where Caveat climbs up above the
masses and sails right past the clichés and limitations
of most of the metal you hear.***
And I like it.***
Clever, dare I say intelligent, well written
and well played kick ass metal that doesn’t annoy the hell
out of me! Who knew?***
Caveat reminds me of kind of a cross between
System Of A Down, Opeth and old Voivod with occasional moments
that may call Alice In Chains to mind, but always with an
energy and a level of musicianship that leaves everyone
else in the dust. Oh yeah…and they do it with a fury that
keeps reminding me of the first time I ever heard Black
Flag or Megadeth or Rage Against The Machine. The label,
Cyclone Records, has issued this disc in a red jewel case
to keep the albums concept firmly in the listeners face,
and what a disc it is.***
This album begins with it’s title track
“Red”. Drummer Casey Rogers sets the pace for the whole
album here. Caveat tunes are either kinda fast or very fast.
The vocals on this one will peel the paint off the wall.***
We continue in a suitable manner with
“Sin”, which has an intro like something from Opeth’s Damnation.
This is where you begin to notice that this music has a
great deal more weight and melodic development than yer
standard metalhead fare. But wait…..***
The third track is “M.O.B.”
***
I’m really starting to notice how good
the drum mix is, how effective the vocal arrangements are,
how crushing the guitar tracks sound. Sounds just a bit
like Fates Warning.***
Then there is “Vindication”, with it’s
relentless drive carrying it through constant changes of
time and tempo, this is truly “progressive” metal. As if
the disc hadn’t been impressive enough by this time, check
out the wicked counterpoint that ensues between guitarists
Greg Musgrave and Joe Sikorski in the tunes instrumental
section.***
“Vicious Circle” lives up to it’s title,
building an increasing tension with a blitzkrieg of guitars
until it’s explosive finale.***
“My Messiah” boasts some of the most tortured
vocals ever heard and “Within This Weakness” wraps things
up properly with an awesome display of chugging riff master
guitar work and some of drummer Casey Rogers most impressive
playing. Denying any weakness, Caveat’s lead guitarist Joe
Sikorski’s licks here will rip you a new one, and don’t
bail out at the end of this track or you’ll miss out on
the in studio kegger that brings Red to a close.***
Not having heard Caveat’s prior studio
output, it’s hard to chart this bands trajectory with absolute
authority but it does seem clear that Caveat has the potential
to breath real life into an often hackneyed genre. Caveat
IS what most of their brethren can only pretend to be.***
Without question, Red is a must have disc.
Get it. Get it now.***
RATING 5/5***
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