CALIGULA’S HORSE
The last time that Caligula’s Horse graced British stages in the summer of 2017, it was a mixed affair. Their twoshow mini-tour saw the Australian melody makers first play to a sparse Southampton crowd, with only 30 people showing up.
Then the next night, they sold out Camden’s Black Heart and performed for a throng of die-hard fans.
Tonight marks the band’s return to the UK and, before they even grace the stage, things seem far more promising. The sold-out Boston Music Room is already packed as support act Circles appear. The Melbourne quartet deliver 45 minutes of hammering prog metal: the high-flying, classic rock melodies of frontman Ben Rechter juxtapose the band’s musicianship, as they indulge in polyrhythm after twisted polyrhythm and invoke comparisons to TesseracT or even Meshuggah.
Circles’ heavy approach with an accessible, catchy edge makes for an appropriate predecessor to tonight’s headliner, though they stand out with their more direct approach. Songs often barely scrape past the five-minute mark, resulting in a focused and always-energised display.
Caligula’s Horse, meanwhile, imbue their melodic prog with far more meandering dynamics, dancing from a subtle calm to a sudden, metallic bang. Their diversity is on display as they kick-start with the lengthy Dream The Dead, cut from their new album
In Contact. As the night unfolds, it becomes apparent that it’ll be a rough one for those who aren’t fond of Caligula’s Horse’s latest release, as tracks from it totally dominate the setlist.
Luckily, London is not deterred at all, singing along to every lyric from frontman Jim Grey and humming along to Sam Vallen and Adrian Goleby’s guitar harmonies. Proceedings then take a more straightforward detour as anthems Will’s Song and Dark Hair Down assume control. Grey’s masterful repartee with his audience ensues, as he encourages them to pick between Turntail and Rust as the next song.
Rust is the runaway victor, with the acidic refrain of ‘Fuck your prayer for rain!’ becoming infectious. The 15-minute extravaganza Graves is the evening’s apex, though, highlighting every member’s instrumental talent through its tucks and dives between metal, rock, prog and even jazz fusion.
Vallen still shreds like his life depends on it, while Josh Griffin and Dave Couper’s weighty rhythms elicit an unprecedented moshpit. The encore of The Cannon’s Mouth concludes with a return to more constantly heavy territory, wrapping up what has been the most grandiose, quintessential and significant concert of Caligula’s Horse’s career thus far.
“THE MOST GRANDIOSE, QUINTESSENTIAL AND SIGNIFICANT CONCERT OF CALIGULA’S HORSE’S CAREER THUS FAR.”