review by: Matt Smith

This album is great. I was very impressed with the production, musicianship, and style. The sound quality is excellent, from the hardcore-style vocals, drums, and guitar lines to a couple of acoustic parts and rich female vocals that are reminiscent of doom. The slower parts have some interesting, sorrowful melodies that bring some emotional appeal to Caliban's sound without being too cheesy. Their timing is excellent, as well, with style changes being added just when they're needed to keep everything interesting.

One thing I particularly liked was how they, in a couple of songs, slow the tempo down perfectly in time with each other, creating a pitch shifter-type of effect. Caliban must have a sense of timing to rival that of Meshuggah or some such mechanical-sounding group. I also really enjoyed the drumming style - Robert uses some good fills and a sophisticated sense of rhythm that carries the music along without having to hit every 32nd note with the double bass pedal (although he makes it clear that he can, if he wanted).

Caliban's wide range of different but compatible-sounding styles and great execution make them a really strong (and hopefully long-lived) group.