It’s official: Caligula’s Horse are the current reigning champs of the Australian prog-rock scene. The Brisbane lads have honed their skills since 2011, and with the release of their fourth LP, In Contact, they’ve delivered a sonic knockout that cements their position atop the prog podium.
While stylistically akin to 2015’s Bloom, the band’s latest album presents a focused conceptual work that explores the nature of creativity. Personal narratives are divulged throughout, while melodies are stacked like building blocks on solid rock foundations. Jim Grey’s angelic croon swells to the heavens as guitar solos blaze like wildfire during ‘Dream the Dead’ and ‘Fill My Heart’. Each chapter tells a different tale, with stomping metallic vitriol (‘Songs for No One’) colliding with gentle acoustic introspection (‘Capulet’) and fiery spoken word poetry (‘Inertia and the Weapon of the Wall’).
The level of musicianship in the band is also noteworthy: these guys are simply masters of their craft, playing at a level that would leave most musicians utterly bamboozled. Need evidence? Check out the 16-minute prog tour de force, ‘Graves’. There are bound to be imitators – but none come close to the brilliance of Caligula’s Horse on In Contact.
