Enemy of The Sun – Caedium

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The second album from producer and legendary Despair/Grip Inc. guitarist and founder Waldemar Sorychta is every bit as complex and varied as the 2007 debut Shadows, with perhaps a little less thrash and even more challenging style changes. “Challenging” is probably the best way to describe Caedium. There are elements of acts as diverse as System of A Down, Bigelf, Nile, Dream Theater, and of course Grip Inc. in these songs, whether intentionally influenced by them or not. Another End of The Rainbow‘s chorus vocals (one of the few cases where a song only has the one style of chorus) could be Chester Bennington, the verses Peter Tägtgren, Chasing The Dragon‘s mid-section Damon Fox, The Power of Mankind‘s cleaner foil Serj Tankian, and amazingly all of them are Jules Naveri. The layers of vocals, some clean, some not, others somewhere between the two, all have their own distinct feel and sometimes the transition between disjointed a Tankian-esque verse and straight-forward aggressive thrash can cause the aural equivalent of a double-take. The band themselves, driven by Sorychta on guitar, are equally adventurous, one minute playing an acoustic Spanish melody, the next brutal thrash metal before a jazzy progressive bridge. Caedium is either a work of absolute genius, or completely confused. Given Sorychta’s history, the former is probably true, and ultimately determining which is correct is probably going to be a matter only the listener can decide for themselves. Either way, it is one of the most arresting albums of 2010, whether you can take it all in or not.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Progressive, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Enemy of The Sun