Parading from Heaven's Descent

Fans of grindcore veterans Cattle Decapitation will be happy discover fellow Californians Rise of Caligula. Their release Parading From Heaven’s Descent contains every ounce of social consciousness and disdain for the establishment as any Cattle Decapitation album that has been released to date. Yet at the same time, their overall sound is incredibly different from Cattle Decap’s pure death and gore sounds, throwing in some slow melodic sounds that are less than expected from a grindcore band.

This album has a more open and breathable feel to it than the more seasoned Cattle Decapitation. It’s less oppressive to the listener and more open for someone who might not necessarily be familiar with this particular style of socially conscious music.

As each song progresses, more and more of a “mellow,” acoustic feel shows up, tempering the rawness in the more traditional instrumental aspect of the band’s technique. Yet, at the same time, that raw and brutal feel than so many are attracted to in death metal/grindcore is still glaringly obvious, It’s presence is a contrast to the easy side of the band’s music. Stated simply, the raw power and mellow instrumentals complement each other in a balancing act that most bands out there don’t seem to be able to achieve to the extent Rise of Caligula has. A positive point for the band.

Now for the negative.

A good album should blend with itself, creating a single piece that appeals to the listener without boring them to death. Tracks should stand out from each other, yet still blend together to create the whole. An album shouldn’t bore the person listening to it out of their mind, making them rather go to sleep than listen to it. When you have four tracks in a row that sound exactly like each other with just some very minor variations, you aren’t doing something right. Unfortunately for Rise of Caligula, my previous statement is true. Not to say that the album isn’t well produced, or they aren’t good musicians, it’s just that Parading From Heaven’s Decent isn’t exciting enough for me to keep my attention. But then again, this may be more a problem with me than them due to the fact I seem to be less into grindcore than I used to be in the past.

One track I would like to point out as being better than the rest is the final song “Calendar Year/Heroin Blues” - more of a hybrid between the slow melodic stuff and the all-out brutal assault that split the album in half. With a silent intermission included at approximately the six minute mark, with a short “hidden” track, makes “Calendar Year/Heroin Blues” a tad more interesting than probably 75 % of the album. If they had more tracks with variation such as appears on this one, Parading From Heaven’s Descent would be a more stimulating album than what I am finding it to be.

My personal feelings on the album: I am developing somewhat love-hate relationship with the music, not being particularly stirred the way I feel I should be by a band like this. I feel that I am stuck giving it a middle-of-the-road rating where someone who is more into this particular genre might give it an excellent rating. While I don’t mind listening to it multiple times for reviewing it, and I might even pull it out at a later time to re-evaluate my current rating - I honestly am not appreciating this album the way it probably deserves to be. And I don’t feel compelled to seek out more from this band or possibly try to see them in concert I they are ever in my neck of the woods. Not that these boys aren’t a good band, it’s just not my cup of tea.

Now, in the case of Parading From Heaven’s Decent, I urge the reader to check out their samples on their Myspace profile and decide for your self if Rise of Caligula is for you or not. It’s your call.

by Kesh Butler, contributor from Metal Psalter Webzine
http://www.metalpsalter.com

Orginal Article:
http://www.metalpsalter.com/review_rise_of_caligula_parading_from_heavens_descent.html