CAULDRON – New Gods (Album Review)

Background

New Gods is the fifth studio album from Canadian three-piece Cauldron. Having formed in 2006 the band consists of mainstays Jason Decay (bass, vocals) and Ian Chains (guitars) and after a merry-go-round of drummers have had Myles Deck since 2012.

Cauldron are considered to be a part of the new wave of traditional heavy metal, a movement championing the return of a more traditional sound to metal.

2016’s In Ruin was seen by many as a classic of the genre, and any follow up would have a hard act to follow.

New Gods

Out now on The End Records, it is clear the plan the band has. Traditional riffing mixed with modern vocals but with more than a hint of doom and depression in Jason Decay’s voice.

New Gods starts in promising fashion with “Prisoner of the Past” with a riff definitely inspired by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Crunching indeed. The vocals then come in and Decay has a pleasing tone, with the aforementioned doomy feel.

However, from that point onwards there is very little variety and each song follows the same well-trodden path and if you’re not really into that one narrow style, then there isn’t much for you to hang your hat on.

Whilst each constituent part of the band perform well, be it the rhythm section or the guitar solo sections, even the vocals, they do not reach the sum of their parts. All the songs are very much alike, with the odd exception such as “Drown”, where Cauldron decide to up the pace to great effect. Such exceptions are, unfortunately, few and far between. When they do go ‘off-piste’ it’s with parts like the last one and a half minutes of “Save the Truth – Syracuse” which is just industrial noises, or two minutes 47 of uninspiring strumming, which is “Isolation”. I may be missing the point.

Final Thoughts

New Gods is not what would be called a poor effort by any stretch of the imagination, it just lacks the variety and pace displayed on “Drown”. Anyway, check for yourself with the clip below and make up your own mind.

BUY: NEW GODS