Caveat - Red
Cyclone Records

file under death metal / grindcore

Patrick: The Canadian Caveat was totally unknown to me, but after listening to their cd ‘red’ it sure is a name to keep in mind. Although this band seems hard to describe, one word might also be enough to extract them: diversity!

A cross-pollination of Quo Vadis, Between The Buried And Me and System Of A Down drops by, richly provided with details and progressive and experimental layers. Compared to predecessor ‘Caveat’ (2005) this ‘Red’ is more tempestuous, quite heavier and more ominous. Caveat has given a twist to complexity and diversity, but without overdoing the technique too much. Not just some plain metal but a load of extreme progressive death metal combined with funk and jazz parts, which are weighed down by unusual, surprising changes in atmosphere and pace and peculiar, wondrous arrangements. The result? An intriguing, monstrous musical trip of almost three quarters of an hour.

But the diversity does not end with the music; also when it comes to the vocals this is an enormous rich, varied and almost theatricality cd. At certain point vocalist Greg sounds exactly as Serj Tankian. Every now and then it even could be System Of A Down’s front man doing the vocals himself. At other moments staccato-like howling like Devin Townsend is being used. And also in the bellowing and the pitch-black grunts an almost frightening intensity is displayed. Only the clean vocals never reach that level; it is simply too tame and phlegmatic at points.

This is definitely not an album that is easy accessible and one in which you have to invest some time to get to know it really well. When you are willing to do so you will hold a very atypical and amazing album with ‘Red’.

Rating: 85/100 (details)

http://www.caveatmusic.com