CHARCOAL GRACE

I never really was too big on Caligula's Horse. I found their albums quite alright, but never too special for me to want to revisit them. They are kinda within the same threshold as bands like Leprous and Haken, being these newer prog metal groups revitalizing the genre in new ways, however even though I do enjoy some of their songs I never really thought they brought something new and fresh to the table, or something that really wowed me personally. However, with the turn of the decade in 2020, they would release Rise Radiant, an album that brought their usual sound and mixed djent with it. I thought, though, that album to be still alright, but I could certainly note the group moving to the right direction. Four years later after that turning point, they would release Charcoal Grace in January 26th of this year, and not only do they improve in a major way with their new found love for djent, but also infused some stellar greatness with the seams of this album to make it my personal favorite of their releases.

This is a six track album, though the big title epic in between is split up into multiple songs, kind of like what Marillion did with Fuck Everyone And Run, and An Hour Before It's Dark with their big epics. Probably the only "bad" thing about this stellar release, but I can certainly live with it, and there are two also very stellar bigger tracks of The World Breathes With Me and Mute that aren't split up, so I am not too bothered by it.

So what I appreciated from Rise Radiant was their readiness to change things up into more of a djent kind of style, and they continue that forward. The thing that is evident upon this fact is the lead single of Golem, my favorite track off the album. It has meaty, chuggy guitars, whilst also having that particular Caligula sound that they carried throughout their career. I really enjoy this song, as it just feels like a true improvement of their sound in not just a total shift, but in an evolutionary upwards motion. Listen to this song in comparison to something like Slow Violence or Marigold. Certainly similar sounding, but there is a clear maturity that exists within Golem, and the rest of the album that I never quite found within the rest of their projects. For that matter, I certainly appreciate it a lot more.

This maturity probably has something to do with the band's lead guitarist, Sam Vallen, taking his hand at producing and mixing the album, and he is really good at what he does here. There is a certain ethereal energy that goes through each of the songs, particularly the longer, and some of the more quieter tracks. I really enjoy this very floaty, almost mystical production, and I bet if he continues to produce albums for the band he'll get better and better.

However, I think the real meat this album does right is a new genre mix within the Caligula sound. Adding on top of the djent, they followed a bit of what groups like Earthside had done and combined post rock within the mix. Now, this post rock is rather small, admittedly, only really noticeable in the bigger tracks, and it certainly isn't as highly invigorating as what Earthside had done, but there is no denying that this band has been exploring a bit more textures and ambience to make something very beautiful. The title track, the 22 minute epic of Charcoal Grace shows this more post rock direction better, as whilst it is very metal and heavy hitting, there is an underlying layer of beauty that I find to hold similar feelings to groups like Mogwai and We Lost The Sea. You can hear it a lot more within the parts of A World Without and the beginning of Give Me Hell. Honestly, this is very awesome for me, not only as a prog fan, but as a post fan too. Seeing a band experiment, at least slightly with more genres into their mix is super fun to hear, especially for a band that has been as long running as Caligula.

I really have zero idea if there is anything really negative to say about this album, as each track holds some very great substance. Maybe Sails and The Stormchaser is a bit forgettable within the mix, but man that guitar solo on Sails certainly is powerful, and The Stormchaser just has a lot of oomph within its five minutes that I cannot help but to still hold at least a lot of love for the two of them.

It is a bit odd for me to have a masterpiece this early in the year, since usually the really good stuff comes a bit later, usually in the summertime, but man January has turned out some stellar stuff, and Charcoal Grace is amongst the heavy hitters of this year already. If we get something like Charcoal Grace, I wouldn't be surprised if this year ends up being as universally loved as 1974 or 1997. Definitely 100% give this one a shot, even if you may not quite enjoy progressive metal I can certainly say this is a record that could really appeal to anyone. Don't quote me on this if I end up being wrong, but I think this may be Caligula's Horse's magnum opus right here. The band can only move upwards from here.

Best tracks: Golem, Charcoal Grace, Mute

Least best tracks: Sails, The Stormchaser