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"With its stunningly beautiful "Charcoal Grace", Caligula's Horse is likely to leave its mark on progressive metal fans for a long time to come."
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5/5
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia didn't pull any punches when it came to containment. Some cities even set sad records, such as Melbourne, where residents spent a total of 262 days stuck in their homes. 262 days! 6 successive confinements and almost 9 months without really knowing when the ordeal would end. Only with this in mind is it really possible to understand "Charcoal Grace", the sixth album from Australia's Caligula's Horse. Following the release of "Rise Radiant" in 2020, which the band were unable to defend on stage, and the departure of guitarist Adrian Goleby in 2021, this new album owes its release solely to the unfailing determination of guitarist Sam Vallen and singer Jim Grey.
If Caligula's Horse has often been compared to Haken, and this may still be the case here with a track like 'Golem', it has always distanced itself from them by one essential component: the almost instantaneous emotion that emanates from the compositions. This emotion, based on the subtle blend of Jim Gray's haunting vocals ('Sails') and Sam Vallen's luminous solos, permeates every track on "Charcoal Grace", as if the band had no other choice for its catharsis than to rely on sincerity and the exposure of its torments.
Immobility, abandonment and loss are at the heart of Jim Gray's lyrics, notably on 'Charcoal Grace', the album's 24-minute centerpiece, which the band has wisely chosen to place right in the middle of the tracklist, and whose four parts, between epic moments ('Prey') and acoustic passages ('Vigil'), are clear demonstrations of the assumed eclecticism with which Caligula's Horse has been composing for over ten years. Moreover, by deliberately straddling the border between progressive rock (the exceptional 'Mute' and its flute passage) and progressive metal (the magnificent 'The World Breathes With Me'), "Charcoal Grace" establishes itself as the darker, much more progressive heir to the fabulous "In Contact".
With this insanely classy and stunningly beautiful album, Caligula's Horse is likely to leave its mark on progressive metal fans for a long time to come. Each listen is a discovery, and each discovery is a further pretext for further listening, so that the only question that remains in the face of such a tour de force is whether the Australian band will recover more or less quickly from this superb success than from the confinement associated with the pandemic. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. The World Breathes With Me
02. Golem
03. Charcoal Grace I: Prey
04. Charcoal Grace II: A World Without
05. Charcoal Grace III: Vigil
06. Charcoal Grace IV: Give Me Hell
07. Sails
08. The Stormchaser
09. Mute
LINEUP:
Dale Prinsse: Basse
Jim Grey: Chant
Josh Griffin: Batterie
Sam Vallen: Guitares
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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Top of the page
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(4) COMMENT(S)
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J'ai découvert Caligula's Horse avec Bloom, mais c'est avec l'excellent Rise Radiant que je les ai adorés. Alors autant dire que j'attendais cet album avec impatience. Et c'est un album qui démarre sur les chapeaux de roues avec 'The World Breathes With Me' et 'Golem' qui figurent parmi mes titres préférés du groupe. Très bien sentis et bien écrits, l'album tient toutes ses promesses, on a très envie d'écouter la suite. Et puis... Et puis plus rien. 'Charcoal Grace' et ses 20+ minutes au compteur aurait tout pour me plaire sur le papier, mais les 4 sections qui le comportent me semblent déconnectées les unes des autres, il n'y a aucun fil rouge, aucune magie, c'est long, c'est fade. A partir de là, l'album s'écoute sans relief, les mélodies rentrent par une oreille et sortent par l'autre sans me marquer. Si bien qu'à la fin, il m'est impossible de tout écouter sans passer certains morceaux. J'ai la sensation que la majorité de l'album a été écrite pour sortir quelque chose, mais il n'y a rien à en tirer pour moi à part quelques sections par-ci par-là.
Sûrement ma déception de 2024, et je suis assez surpris de voir des avis très positifs sur cet album tant il me fait l'effet d'un disque quasi-raté, malgré son excellent début. À voir sur la durée, j'y reviendrai c'est certain !
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Je suis un inconditionnel de la bande, donc peu objectif.
Mais quand même c'est encore une oeuvre majeure...... 
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Un album bien fait mais qui ne révolutionne rien et qui ne m'a pas emporté plus que ça
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J'attendais avec impatience la chronique de Music Waves sur ce que je considère comme leur meilleur album à date , pour toutes les raisons brillamment citées par NEWF.
Je ne suis pas déçu !
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Top of the page
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READERS
4.8/5 (9 view(s))
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STAFF:
4.3/5 (6 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH CALIGULA'S HORSE
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LAST INTERVIEW
CALIGULA'S HORSE (APRIL 2020)
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The coronavirus doesn't stop Music Waves! Josh Griffin, the band's drummer, came to present the Australians' new album, "Rise Radiant".
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT CALIGULA'S HORSE
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