Caliban 'Back From Hell' feat. The Browning Single Review

I must admit that I forgot about Caliban’s existence for many years. Having the experience of seeing the band in 2012 during Get Infected tour when they promoted one of their best efforts to this day – “I Am Nemesis” album – I expected them to serve me good, old school metalcore some of 90s kids loved back in the day. And oh dear – I could not be more wrong. The package we are getting through this song and The Browning’s Jonny McBee featuring is a phenomenal mix. Specifically speaking about being the title track of upcoming long play that will be released on April 25th via Century Media.

“Back From Hell” is incredibly melodic and catchy. The mix of melodious guitars, grandiose drums and monumental vocals is indeed fresh and genuinely interesting to my ear. From the very start we get punchy, powerful screams from band’s vocalist – Andreas. They intertwine amazingly with even deeper, darker vocals from The Browning’s Jonny to eventually smoothly flow to clean singing performed by Iain, Caliban’s bassist in choruses. Technically speaking, combining these three voices is one of the best vocal combinations I heard recently in metalcore genre.  Looking also into more technical aspect of “Back From Hell”, I cannot skip how great double kick drums sound throughout the whole composition, especially leading to soul crushing breakdown in the middle of the song. Patrick’s performance definitely stands out the most alongside aforementioned vocalists. My only little knit pick about “Back From Hell" would be slightly too subtle bass sound. While Iain’s vocal in choruses is amazing, I feel like bass presence is a little bit lacking. I feel like that whole song could have been elevated more if we had a thicker bass tone.  

One more thing I would like to put a small focus on how well music video is made with lyrical content of “Back From Hell”. As band says:
“'Back from Hell' is a declaration of survival. It’s about facing your deepest fears and coming out stronger on the other side. This song reflects the struggle of rising from darkness, fighting your way back from rock bottom, and refusing to accept defeat. We wanted it to be a raw, aggressive anthem for anyone who's ever felt trapped but found the strength to break free.”
Watching director’s Mirko Witzki work on music video filled with darkness, haze, confrontation with a reaper and flaming shots – I perfectly got that impression it’s all about suffering and endurance in hard times. Very cohesive, led with a strong message that despite hardships in life – you can still go forth in life as a triumphant and carry on. I must highly praise the band to tackle such subject and wrap it up really well and in striking way. 

 All things considered, I am pretty stoked on Caliban’s new material. It has a punch, a meaningful message and sounds crisp. I’ll be definitely checking out more of their music, including earlier singles from “Back From Hell”. They clearly made a comeback in my eyes I did not expect, and I want to give another chance to dive back in their art.  
In the meantime, Caliban also announced the EU and UK spring tour with In Hearts Wake, Cabal, Assemble The Chariots which dates you can check out below:  

27/04 - Substage, Karlsruhe (DE) 
28/04 - Metropol, Berlin (DE) 
29/04 - Gruenspan, Hamburg (DE) 
30/04 - Parkteatret, Oslo (NO) 
02/05 - Ääniwalli, Helsinki (FIN) 
04/05 - Kollektivet Livet, Stockholm (SE) 
05/05 - Pumpehuset, Copenhagen (DK) 
06/05 - Dynamo, Eindhoven (NL) 
08/05 - The Fleece, Bristol (UK) 
09/05 - Asylum, Birmingham (UK) 
10/05 - The Dome, London (UK) 
12/05 - Komplex 457, Zurich (CH) 
13/05 - Backstage, Munich (DE) 
14/05 - Flex, Vienna (AT) 
15/05 - Dürer Kert, Budapest (HU) 
16/05 - Kwadrat, Krakow (PL) 
17/05 - Conne Island, Leipzig (DE) 
18/05 - Essigfabrik, Cologne (DE)