Caligula's Horse is an Australian contemporary progressive metal band. The band was formed by Sam Vallen (lead guitarist) and Jim Grey (lead vocalist) in early 2011. But I only came in contact with them when reviewing the very good 2017's fourth album In Contact which was a critical and commercial success. According to the band their sound is influenced by bands like King Crimson, Steely Dan and Opeth. I'd describe as a mix of Haken and Leprous with djent elements reminding me of TesseracT.
The new endeavour Rise Radiant is the second album with guitarist Adrian Goleby, and drummer Josh Griffin and the first with bassist/vocalist Dale Prinsse. The fifth album comes three years after the aforementioned In Contact. This time the band decided to stay away from a concept album, however there's still a common theme on the album. For Rise Radiant, Caligula's Horse went for a collaborative writing process instead of just the founding pair. The result is a more colourful and emotional music with virtuosic performances.
Rise Radiant is an unpretentious modern prog album. It's never overdone and easy to digest (8 songs in 48 min) with most songs being relatively short and to the point. Take for example the first two songs: "Tempest" and the single "Slow Violence". Djent guitars with a powerful choruses and tasteful guitar solos. It's a strong opening. Later on "Oceanrise" features similar feeling while being more dynamic. While each band member is a very good musicians, they play in favor of the song and not to show themselves off. That choice helped the album to be concise. The production allows for every instrument to shine including even some nice bass moments like in "Autumn". I think the guys were even too modest, I'd have loved to heard those solos in this song to go more wild. With that said, my real problem with Rise Radiant is that it's too mellow and slow tempo for too long. "Salt", "Resonate" (it can be used in as an elevator song) and "Autumn" completely break the album's energy and feel like almost a ripoff of Leprous. The album gains some extra points due to the strong finish. "The Ascent" is the epic 11-min highlight that I was waiting for. There are slow tempo mellow sections here but they are embedded into a bigger picture that sucks you in during a complete musical journey.
While Rise Radiant starts strong and finishes on a high note, the meat in between lacks the hooks and the power/energy from the previous albums. It doesn't help that I feel a lack of authenticity as it's hard to not compare it to a Haken or Leprous album. With that said, it's an OK album with some very good moments that will work well in your playlist.
SCORE: 76/100
Genre: Progressive Metal
Released by InsideOut Music on May 22nd, 2020
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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad
* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
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