Canada's Cauldron released a terrific traditional metal album a couple of years and returned to put out their sophomore album just recently. The band built on several ideas from their last album and made just a few changes to their overall sound and definitely improved their production this time around. Unfortunately, this album just did not grab me as much as their debut. Perhaps it will over time, who knows?This is still a straightforward traditional metal album in the vein of countrymen icons Anvil. The songs are short and sweet and infectious as hell. You will be singing along after hearing the album just once and the songs will stick with you. The riffs are fairly simple and the guitar solos are impressive.
The production has improved immensely. The debut album was somewhat weak-sounding and this album is definitely crunchier and has a thicker bottom end. That is the major improvement. The vocals also sound a little bit better this time around. That was another aspect I noticed right away. They do take a little bit of time to get used to, particularly if you have heard the debut as much as I have.
The problem is that this is merely a good album whereas I found the debut to be one of the best albums of 2009. I suppose Cauldron could not live up to the debut. It happens, nothing wrong with it. Maybe in time, I will hold this album up to those same standards, but for now, this is just another traditional metal album. It's certainly good, but it likely will not make my best of the year list.
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