Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Cauldron Tomorrow's Lost Company: Earache Release: 2012 Genre: traditional Reviewer: EC

Traditional swashbuckling

Third album to date from Canadian old school crew Cauldron. Earache keeps pushing this brand of garage metal and "Tomorrow's Lost" continues the traditional push. I really loved the band's debut and thought the follow-up effort was fairly solid as well. The band seems to push more in the direction of traditional swashbuckling on this third album, maybe more of a compromise of the first two records.

Overall the production here is abysmally bad, probably on purpose considering the 70s and 80s sensibility of the band. Opener "End Of Time" sounds extremely hollow and songs like "Burning Fortune" have clangy cymbals that sound like early Venom. I also am finding fault with the arrangements, often than not refusing to do a whole lot of timing and tempo changes and rarely does anything change key in the vocal department. But it isn't all bad and Cauldron still make up the difference with some stronger songs.

"Fight For Day" reflects the same mindset as the sophomore album, that mid-tempo hard rockin' metal sound made famous by the likes of Warlord. The band's first single (if there is such a thing) and video is "Nitebreaker", complete with guitar that is as good or better than the scorcher riff on "Witch Trail" (from the debut). The band's "To Tame A Land" gallop can be found on "Tomorrow's Lost" and "Summoned To Succumb" is built around the 80s hard rock chorus (very much like Dokken). The album comes with two bonus songs if you purchase through iTunes; an amazing Cathedral cover in "Autumn Twilight" and a cover of Carcass' "I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Sucks)".