From the ashes of Canada’s beloved Goat Horn rises Cauldron. Goat Horn was an incredible NWOBHM meets thrash band that put on great live shows and had hilarious metal anthems like “Rotten Roll” and “Right Heavy Metal.” They called it quits in 2006 and bassist/vocalist Jason Decay formed Cauldron with Flying V guitarist Ian Chains and drummer Chris Rites. The attitude is the same but the music is slightly more refined with less thrash and more NWOBHM. Fans of Raven, Acid, A II Z, Witchfinder General and Thor will be delighted with this record.
Chained To The Nite’s album cover looks like something that could have been released on the Long Island metal label Mongol Horde circa 1983 (home of the awesomely terrible Alien and Takashi). Cauldron are big fans of Thor and the artwork seems to be a tribute to his Unchained EP cover as well as the Keep The Dogs Away LP.
“Young and Hungry” starts the album off with a heavy midtempo anthem that would be a huge MTV hit if this was 25 years ago. Heavy enough to please the guys and with a big chorus for the girls to sing along to while cruising Main Street in dullsville suburbia. “Conjure The Mass” is up next and has a sinister riff but is not Satanic.It should come as no surprise that guitarist Ian Chains shines on the songs “Chained Up In Chains” and “Chains Around Heaven.” Anyone who can’t enjoy these songs just doesn’t know how to have fun. “The Leavening/Fermenting Enchantress” shows off a bit more of a 1984 Metallica sound. That’s as contemporary as Cauldron gets. “Dreams Die Young” is a fast one with Iron Maiden style leads over a thundering Judas Priest rhythm, while “Witch Trial” is total Angel Witch.
This is a solid album that pays tribute to the early 80’s “heavy metal” era, before it became just “metal.” A few of the songs go on a little too long, but so did a lot of the songs back then. The guitars are crunchy and have a “scooped mid” tone (bass and treble all the way up, midrange on zero), the drums have tons of reverb and the bass is barely audible. Jason Decay’s vocals are limited in range but if you like Angel Witch you’ll have no complaints. Cauldron will be touring the US later this summer with Sweden’s Enforcer. If you want a night of straight ahead, no nonsense headbanging then tuck your acid washed jeans into your white high tops, break out your Agent Steel cut off T and jump in the fire!
--Woody
buy here: Chained to the Nite
www.myspace.com/cauldronmetal
Comments
Don't know about that, we just know they rock!
Thanks the comment
I think the closest Goat Horn got to thrash was their Sacrifice cover on the second album; they were really more trad/doom. You're right on about Cauldron moving on a bit past that- Chained to the Nite does get a real fast song, but overall it does reference the NWOBHM more.
Not sure about the name-drops in paragraph four; I wouldn't necessarily compare Dreams Die Young's rhythm to Priest as they don't normally get that fast, nor do I hear a strong comparison between Witch Trail and Angel Witch. Angel Witch is a really great band, but Witch Trail is so, heavy, in most every sense of the word.
It sure is HEAVY METAL though, and I wouldn't mind if every song was longer because I love this album so much!