Sad news: The music world mourns the loss of Ray Manzarek (74), founding Member and keyboarder of The Doors, White Zombie drummer Phil Buerstatte (44) and Uriah Heep bassist Trevor Bolder (63). R.I.P.!
German Hardrockers BERSERKER will donate 18.000€ to the Berlin cancer charity for children on May 25. November 2011 BERSERKER front man Schröder was diagnosed with cancer, now he is cancer-free. In 2012 the band collected money for this charity at their concerts and will also continue to do so in the future. Slayer´s Jeff Hanneman is dead: he passed away at about 11AM on May 2nd near his Southern California home because of liver failure due to an infection after a spider bite. R.I.P. Jeff!
The Siberian Jay music video "I´m Holding" featuring Mikko Sirén from Apocalyptica on drums - we reported about the videoshoot in our "1h with" Special - can be watched here: http://youtu.be/C-hSNurZVcs
So this is the new CD of MetalCore pioneers Caliban, again with Roadrunner records and named “The Awakening”. Awakening is meant literally and can clearly be heard. A short sample and then “I Will Never Let You Down” begins, fast hard riffs, low vocals and, as we know from Caliban, the first grooving mosh part. A very good start, guys! Caliban also include clean parts, this time they sound much more embedded and more precise than on previous albums. The band has improved, indeed. The following song “Let go” is spiced with heavy parts that invite to mosh, as well as “Another Cold Day”. This high and interesting level characterizes the record as a whole. In my opinion you can here something of Kreator, and Marc agreed to that in the interview (check STALKER interview section!). There are worse influences than Kreator, and I think that the band managed to combine the best from the previous three albums with their new rougher style, the old sound with a new sound feeling. Old fans will be as excited as fans of e. g. “The Undying Darkness” or “The Opposite from Within”. Perhaps the change of producers (from Andy Sneap to Adam D, Killswitch Engage, and Benny Richter who pre-produced most songs with guitarist Marc) was important for this development. Caliban will with this record definitely not only fit into the MetalCore genre, they sound much more mature. They found their own sound – the “Caliban sound”!
Tracklist:
1. I Will Never Let You Down
2. Let Go
3. Another Cold Day
4. My Time Has Come
5. Life Is Too Short
6. Give Me A Reason
7. Stop Running
8. The Awakening
9. I Believe…
10. Rise And Fight
11. Nowhere To Run, No Place To Hide
12. I´ll Show No Fear
