Customer Reviews

The Undying Darkness

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow, Undying Darkness is Caliban's fifth album. Most people won't know that and will compare them to Killswitch Engage, As I lay Dying etc, like they always do. Truth is, Caliban surface in Europe and has been around for a while, since the late nineties. In fact, they were one of the only bands to incorporate clean vocals into their black/thrash/neo classical metal stylings, with the exception of In Flames, Katatonia and a few others. Their latest album finds them doing what they do best. You'll find sledge hammer guitar riffs, throaty screams, melodic choruses, and thunderous double-bass drumming. This album doesn't reinvent metalcore in any way, it just perfects it.

I just found out a couple of days ago that a new Caliban album was coming out, & I immediately couldn't wait to get my hands on it! Anyway, this is a pretty good album like the last, except it's very straight forward this time around. It doesn't sound as technical, but it's still that heavy sound that you would expect from the band. The only reason why I'm not giving it 5 stars is because I hear way too many similarities to Trivium's brilliant album released last year 'Ascendancy' & As I Lay Dying's awesome 'Shadows are Security.' It sucks that there's too many hardcore bands on the metal scene today, because the same sounds are often repeated & it doesn't help make great bands like I mentioned earlier including Caliban stand out too much. But anyway, this album is still worth it if you love hardcore.

This band is much heavier than killswitch people. Sure they sing the choruses and the songs are somewhat catchy, but KSE are much more mainstream than this band. This album is brutal metal-core at its finest. From track 1 to the last, they don't let up. It is much better than their last cd which I thought was just another metal-core cd. This one is different and it has a little extra something. I love this album and you might too if you'll stop listening to these idiots saying they have ripped KSE off. This band has been around for ten years! They were before KSE. Ilove killswitch as much as the next guy, but I also love CALIBAN and this is a ferocious album that deserves to be heard. Long live METAL-CORE!

this band has been around since 1996 (before you knew what hardcore was)they were one of the poineering bands in the german hardcore scene. bands like kse are good and all but kse is no aftershock (aftershock the original band of the members who founded kse, adam and strozel and with adams brother toby on vocals). but yea back ta caliban dood. german metalcore originators along with bands like jane, aclys, acme, or any of the other german bands on per koro and lifeforce records back then. get it right people. and yea its not a good as it used to be, what is.

i'm not going to go right into too much detail here, all that really needs to be said is buy this album now.

the only downside is the soft singing in some of the chorus's. he has actually got a pretty good voice but this style of music is better sticking to the heavy stuff.

this cd kicks the crap out of their last album.

everyone seems to say that caliban sound like killswitch engage and i can see certain similarities but these guys are a little heavier, and the singer is a bit better. i would agree that if you like them you'll like these guys though.

Let's begin with a quick lesson for the thousands of uneducated "metal-core" fans spanning the globe...
To clear things up, Killswitch Engage didn't form until 2001. They didn't release an album until 2002. As I Lay Dying didn't form until 2001. They too didn't release anything until 2002.

Now Then...CALIBAN formed in 1997 (that's almost a decade ago kids!) under the name Never Again. CALIBAN toured with "hardcore" legends like CRO-MAGS and EARTH CRISIS way before most of the American "metal-core" acts even existed. To compare CALIBAN and their groundbreaking musical stylings to the afformentioned acts is just plain ridiculous!

In conclusion: CALIBAN are leaders...KSE, AILD, and countless other bands (although good in their own right) are the followers.

On to the review:

With the release of the brilliant "The Undying Darkness", Germany's metalcore titans CALIBAN have once again demonstrated why they are the standout act in a scene saturated with imitators and bandwagon jumpers.

CALIBAN continue to mesh the perfect combination of musical elements together to form a sound that fans of all genres of heavy music can enjoy. With two gifted vocalists in the mix (Andy's hellish growling and Denis's ethereal crooning) the band can easily transition from melodic to chaotic, keeping listeners on their heels. Almost every track on "T.U.D" contains the devasting breakdowns that fans of CALIBAN have come to expect. Nobody transitions into breakdowns like CALIBAN, who grind your bones to dust with their axe-work.

Think "the best heavy elements of SHADOW HEARTS" with "the best melodic elements of THE OPPOSITE FROM WITHIN". This is the album that CALIBAN shall be judged by.

Will they finally get the recognition and respect they deserve?
Sales and fan support of "The Undying Darkness" shall be the determining factor.

See CALIBAN headline on tour this Spring...coming soon to a US town near you! (So get the "F" off of your asses and go already!)

Contrary to the review below, this is not a side project from members of In Flames....Look along the lines of Dimension Zero, and Passenger for side projects from those guys. This is a great cd, these guys are metalcore at its finest. BREAKDOWN CITY BABY!!!!!! Yeah, I think that about sums it up.

after hearing a cut on Last FM I put this cd on my need list. Although Caliban doesnt sound as polished as say Las I Lay Dying, they have the high energy I enjoy listening to

a german band and they are really good. If you like melodic deathcore metal in the lines of killswithch engage you woill like this group. The singinging is really good with crucnching guitars....

to the other reviewer, there are 2 singers in caliban.

This album is pretty good, its heavy as hell and the production is pretty good. the only downside is there are very simple lyrics, and the songs kind of get old after a few listens...get the Opposite from Within along with this album.