CAULDRON - Burning Fortune CD
Earache Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 4/5
Here's the sophomore release from this Canadian trio who, along with Sweden's ENFORCER, have done more for bringing traditional heavy metal back to the forefront then any other in recent history. For new ears, that includes hipsters who seem to be climbing on board the bandwagon, CAULDRON sounds as fresh and clean as listening to early 80's NWOBHM for the first time. Sure there's gonna be some retro to em but all in a good way. Their brand of NWOBHM leans more to the pop sensibility then extreme. I once saw them compared with DOKKEN which technically is not an insult. In fact it's a lot less insulting then name dropping bands like PRIEST or MAIDEN which CAULDRON doesn't sound like at all. I was at a loss to come up with a band or bands from the past who they actually remind me of. Now whenever I'm dumbfounded on a metal subject, it happens since I'm getting old and ya know the mind goes first, I turn to an expert. In this case I conferred with someone who to me is an expert on all things NWOBHM, Mr. John Costigan. John likens this band to such obscure greats as SAVAGE, OVERDRIVE and GRIFFIN. Damm if he wasn't right about that SAVAGE comparison. Honestly out of the three SAVAGE was the only one I recognized.
This new release is much better then their debut in every way. There's nothing really complicated about it since the band explores simplistic rock music themes throughout. The songs are short powerful bursts of teenage metal angst which was the standard theme back in the early 80s. I know this personally because I was there and looking back it does seem cheesy of course in a fun way. Songs like opener "All or Nothing" and "Miss You To Death" have that catchy 80's melodic metal feel to em which is can be addictive. It's the stuff that made halfway decent videos. Basically all of the songs on Burning Fortune have that feeling to them as well the simplicity of themes explored many times over. Be it the rigors of touring "Rapid City/Unchained Assault" or the overdone lost love theme "Miss You To Death". Simply put if this came out in 1981 or 82 it probably would've been album of the year. The major differences from this one and their debut are Jason Decay's vocals, which have improved to the point where he'll be named in the future as a voice of metal. The musicianship is very tight as in tighter than a dick's hatband. Great fuckin release.
Label: http://www.earache.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cauldronmetal
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