Sydneysiders Caulfield enter their debut, Vanity, to a packed out and ever filling hardcore scene. It squeezes in snugly, too. Searing, pounding guitars anchor Amity Affliction-checking vocals penned in A Letter to Myself One Year Ago. Machine beats pulse through Sour Grapes, raging against the dwindling dubstep light. Their middle runs on a hamster wheel of alternating clean/scream vocals and obligatory breakdowns. They hop off, cobbling ‘90s pop-punk off cuts into Something from Nothing. A danceable G.Y.S.T holds the line as only their last handful of cuts do any advancing.
Rocking up late in eighth position, a gnarling Revolution On The Inside signposts their noticeable jump in song craft. Time to Come lets fly with a fret-molesting, lip-puckering solo that’s strong enough to distract from its bog-standard breakdown. Intricacy belies Whispers bang and wallop: Caulfield patiently explores rhythmic motivations instead of rushing toward either a chorus or breakdown. Outsiders rides into the sunset taking up defiant guitar and vocal positions. Instead papering over sonic holes with synthy bleeps and bloops, they shave slivers off modern prog-rock with guitars floating and trilling away in middle distance. It begs the question: is Caulfield’s fear of stepping outside hardcore’s boundaries holding them back?
There’s no imputing they’ve slap dashed their debut. True enough, the boys are falling over themselves carving their name into hardcore’s sweat-glazed walls. Just as left-footed bumblers, with time and effort mature into graceful dancers, Caulfield need to focus their rudderless angst and breakdown fancying into really nailing the little things. Nuance is palpably budding on Time to Come and Whispers. Hopefully it’ll be ripe for harvest come album number two.
BY TOM VALCANIS
Best Track: Time to Come
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: The Amity Affliction, Parkway Drive or Hand of Mercy
In A Word: Medium-rare
