Caligari:
Clint Beastwood
The brethren of Grand Rapids gather on dark nights in crowded pubs and bars to listen to a group that is beginning to garner a following of listeners with a taste for something different. Caligari defines themselves as “sludge, stoner or doom metal;” however, after listening to tracks off their debut album I disagree. They’ve created another form of metal music: Nerd Metal. The band itself takes the name Caligari from the obscure cult horror film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” and many of their songs, while not sung poetically, have several meanings and references to other various subcultures. With songs like “Klendathu” and “Game Over, No Credits,” Caligari fills a void in a genre that otherwise has very little overtly nerd-like songs. I’ve known the various members of this band for several years, and because of that, I’ve been able to watch them grow. Caligari is an amalgamation of talent in the making. They just need some more time together. The music as a whole is fairly average. It is enjoyable, but it won’t blow your mind away. The vocals aren’t as strong as I would like, which is really disappointing to me because the lyrics are absolutely beautiful. Even if you hate metal, hate the sound and hate everything about it, buy this album to read the lyrics. They stand on their own as a beautiful work of art. For that fact alone, I give Caligari a good rating. Their lyrics are phenomenal, and I have yet to encounter another band’s ability to take the topics they do and turn them into poetry.
If you’d like to sample the music or see them live go to caligarimetal.com