Once upon a time, – ironically or not, you tell me – Metal bands were under the influence of the periodic table of elements to give them inspiration to their band names, furthermore, to name songs and albums. So, there were the so many bands and albums with iron in them; Vanadium, a 1980’s band with their self-tittled debut album; a very famous band that was considered Metal in the 1980’s, but now some consider it corny whose debut album was inspired on the temperature “7800° Fahrenheit,” which is the temperature that rock melts; and so many more. Now we have got Caregah with “Osmium,” which is the densest naturally occurring element, to make the tradition go on.
Musicwise, “Osmium” is a surprise because their music is a fine piece of 1990’s Metal. To whom it may concern, to some extent, their music is not as dense as the metal they honor in the tittle of the album. By dense music I mean full of effects, keyboards, with shifts of tempo and cadence, vocal shifts and on and on. Pretty much what many Extreme Metal bands do theses days. Caregah‘s music is plain with guitars, bass and drums, nothing else. Less is more sometimes. They are a modern band, founded in 2019, with a foot in the past. Let’s say the band’s music is a mix of Pantera with Soundgarden as tracks “Terrorized” and “Smoke of Doom” tell. Even though the main mood of the album is down as Sludge Metal has to be, there are tracks as “Floods of No Return” that showcases some heads up with its nice guitar solo that embellishes the thing.
“Forever Merciless“ opens up the album with that distinct sonancy of 1990’s Metal bands with strong guitars and a tight drumming. As I said before, Caregah‘s music is plain with the famous rock’n’roll kit of guitars, bass and drums. No more, no less. After a while, the fan might notice some hints of bands as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, plus some Pantera with their groove. I loved the Black Sabbath’s “Born Again” era effectt on the guitar solo. The Sepultura’s inspired percussion of “Steel” gives the song an unexpected feeling with a guitar inspired on Zakk Wild’s guitar squeaks. It is funny that I only noticed the percussion while my second audition as it is very subtle, or, the drums are doing it. I cannot tell for sure. There is also an instant AOR feeling in the end of the song with the chorus. A kind of join-me-here feeling. Of course, there is a nice ballad with “Tombstone,“ I guess not inspired on the eponymous film. No, of course not.
“Osmium” is an album for the ones who miss 1990’s golden era, or, for the ones who want to listen some less complex.
Caregah “Osmium” will be released on May 30th via ROAR.
Track Listing:
01. Forever Merciless
02. Steel
03. Revenge
04. Tombstone
05. Terrorized
06. Smoke of Doom
07. Into the Grave
08. Floods of No Return
09. Forsaken Town
10. Waves of the Dunes
11. Tomahawk
12. Gravedigger
Watch “Forever Merciless” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!