This album is one to remember and to place on the shelf. While a debut album is a true milestone for a musical outlet, this debut is different, it is genre-defining and truly impactful. Evolving and growing is an act that is too much for some, but to have a true artistic goal in mind and a future vision in line and to develop enough to hold it in the palm of one's hand is a unique and singular attainment. Suicide in the City is Cauldron's debut full-length record but its metallic hardcore's much-needed addition.
After six years of constant evolution and determination, Birmingham, England's Cauldron has reached the destination of presenting the most broad, elemental, and prestigious description of their collective personality.
“I think that naturally over time we’ve grown more comfortable with allowing our more leftfield influences to shine through," comments vocalist Frazer Cassling as he cements the bands' conquest for authenticity by allowing the music to take hold of all flowing creative directions and create a modern hardcore album that does everything but follow the regular process.
"Where previously we would say we’re influenced by metalcore bands A, B, and C, we’re now happy to say yeah, we’re influenced by these bands, but we also listen to dream pop and emo and loads of other genres, and I think that shows in the music."
“We’re not trying to win any races, we’re happy to go play somewhere new to 10 people if it means 20 show up next time. We’re cool to just grind it out and I think that’s transparent, and I think people resonate with it," says Cassling. "We don’t have loads of fans by any means, but the people who like our band seem to care about our band, and I think that’s cause we’re real and we’re trying to grow without pretending like we’re already the biggest band in the world."
The vocalist further states when highlighting the humble and strong work ethic within the band. Proving why little by little Cauldron has echoed and remained within people's orbit for good reason, they are honest and embody a true desire to create meaningful and long-lasting art whilst caring so much about their design and how it is perceived.
But building preservation within listeners' sonic space and within a live setting comes with expectation, which can be cruel. However, the band and Cassling took this within their stride and set a bar higher than ever before to achieve. “We had a lot to prove as songwriters and for myself, as a storyteller. We wanted to level up how well we do heavy and how well we do melodic to deliver something that builds on our previous works.
"For me, I wanted to test myself with how to fit a story into lyrical format, and how to translate the mood of the story into the mood of the songs. I also challenged myself to write the entire album without swearing in the lyrics, as I felt I relied on it too much to get points across and to fill gaps."
Suicide in the City is fantastic, but the lyrical themes and concept of the record come from pain and struggle. The record constantly dives into harsh topics and expresses raw heartfelt emotion throughout every song and the albums characters. Cassling gives his final comments about reliving past traumas in a once-forgotten mindset whilst tracking the album and how the present day is so important when bravely and maturely bringing the past to the head of the table.
“This record is very meaningful to us, some songs were almost hard to track because they made us so sad whilst we were tracking them, due to the subject matter in the songs. We wanted our debut to be more than just a new release, but an actual statement on this period of our lives”
***
Suicide in the City is available now via Ephyra (US) and The Coming Strife (EU).
Cauldron on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
***
Tagged: cauldron
