There really aren’t many melodic hardcore bands that I can listen to these days so its nice to come across one that sounds so fresh and impassioned. Judging by an older Caleb Lionheart title, Think Pop Punk, Play Hardcore, I should have known about these guys far sooner. The Albany, NY band’s latest release, the four song EP Climbing Up A Mountain, Just For The View comes out on the always solid Barrett Records. If you were a fan of the short-lived Marathon or the earlier shades of Crime In Stereo then you will fall head over heels for Caleb Lionheart.
Opening the EP with a sample from Dr. Martin Luther King might sound a bit heavy handed but Caleb Lionheart back it up lyrically. The band tackles serious subject matters with a poetic tongue and clever disposition. While the band might be politically charged at times they certainly don’t beat you over the head with generic sloganizing. Caleb Lionheart show off a sense of range and melody so equally measured that it’s hard not to be enthralled with Climbing Up A Mountain, Just For The View. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.
Label: Barrett
Caleb Lionheart “Make Believe”
www.myspace.com/caleblionheart
