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Cauldron

Tomorrow's Lost

Written by: EW on 21/10/2012 17:41:54

I seem to have ploughed my way through a collection of commendable releases in recent times, each with their own fair reason for being a listen I would recommend to fans of those sub-genres and now on Cauldron's "Tomorrow's Lost" I find no obvious reason for suggesting otherwise. Like on debut album "Chained to the Nite" and "Burning Fortune" the Canadians stick to what runs through their veins, the easy going but die-hard blood of heavy metal devoid of irony in it’s pastiche of softer 80s icons like Dokken through to the heavier (for the day) types of Angel Witch, Accept and Iron Maiden. This subservience to riffing melody, up-tempo beats at comfortable volumes and songs singing of metal, love and life make the band an easy one to appreciate for anyone with any sort of background in (true) metal and a string to the bow of those of us who proffer to it being no less than a whole lifestyle choice.

Nine songs running from 3½ to 5½ minutes in 39 minutes, "Tomorrow's Lost" stylistically differs little from "Burning Fortune". Infact the greatest change has come in the artwork department, with a move away from the female-orientated covers of LPs 1 and 2 to the more typical apocalyptic imagery more commonly seen on death metal packages (I love this cover, though it seems a little dark for the music contained herein). The production is uncluttered and friendly with Jason Decay's vocals in particular the key focal point of the record - whereas I have felt earlier on in their career he was singing a different song to the instruments, his problem is more simple these days: a lack of strength and power that is considerably more problematic in overcoming. Still though, this doesn't seem to hold back the man and for that I give him credit: he tries hard throughout to hold feel with the music as is evident in "Endless Ways" and "Relentless Temptress". "End of Time", "Burning Fortune" and the grammatically-questionable "Fight For Day" are fast by Cauldron's standards, one imagines them being nicely interspersed in the live show to cordially invite long-haired types such as myself to feel involved, with Ian Chains adding the requisite solo break-aways from the very hard line rhythmic riffing which underpins all their tracks. Besides the faster moments are of course the slower tunes - "Born to Struggle" with it's delightfully simplistic leading riff and my personal favourite "Nitebreaker" when Cauldron's softer influences show through. Softer they may be but it is these that separate Cauldron from far more generic heavy metal revivalists such as White Wizzard and Wolf pedalling similar paths.

Cauldron have never attempted to rewrite the rulebook and I can say with some certainty little attempt will ever be made to do so, but it is their underlying ability to still write hook-laden and easily enjoyable heavy metal tunes of their own recognisable nature which has progressed them to a position of respectability within the scene today, a status which not all of their peers could lay claim to. On that note, I can attest for having reviewed many better heavy metal albums in my time but there must be some reason why I most often find myself coming back to the Cauldron.

Download: Nitebreaker, Tomorrow’s Lost (Sun Will Fall), End of Time
For The Fans Of: Dokken, Accept, Angel Witch

Listen: Myspace

Release date: 08.10.2012
Earache Records