Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 13) – In Contact by Caligula’s Horse

About a year ago, I chanced upon a song named Firelight by an Australian prog rock band called Caligula’s Horse. The lead singer’s stylized syllable emphasis, intonations and falsetto vocals made for a unique and delightful sound, with the sweeping guitar solos and distinct bass line all adding up to an appealing package. I quickly scoured through the full album, Bloom, and found another song called Daughter of the Mountain which I also liked. For some reason, I moved on to other music and forgot all about the group.

Last week, while browsing lists of best prog rock albums from the past decade, the band’s name popped up again. So this time I listened to four of the five albums in their discography, and came away a full-on fan. I started with their breakout 2013 concept album, The Tide, the Thief & River’s End, then moved on to listen properly to the aforementioned Bloom (from 2015) which featured a lighter, pop-oriented approach that had clearly appealed to me with those two songs from last year. Next came another concept album, In Contact (2017), and finally their 2020 release, Rise Radiant. Each album had a strong suit of songs, all showcasing Jim Grey’s amazing vocal range, lyrical depth, and remarkable technical proficiency. While parts of their early music reminded me of American rock band Incubus, they have evolved their own style since Bloom.

Eventually, the album that I kept coming back to was In Contact, for the nuance of the concept behind the album and the breadth of song-writing quality across all tracks.

Caligula’s Horse in 2017, from left to right: Josh Griffin (drums), Adrian Goleby (guitar), Jim Grey (vocals), Sam Vallen (lead guitar), Dave Couper (bass)

Artist: Caligula’s Horse (referred to as C-Horse by fans), comprising Jim Grey (lead vocals), Sam Vallen (lead guitar and all other instruments), Adrian Goleby (guitar), Dave Couper (bass) and Josh Griffin (drums). Guest saxophone solo on Graves by Jørgen Munkeby.

Album: In Contact (2017)

Narrative type: Metaphysical musings

Album theme/concept: An exploration of human creativity; the motivations, hopes, triumphs and tragedies of artists.

Best songs: Will’s Song (Let the Colours Run), The Hands Are the Hardest, Love Conquers All, Songs for No One, Graves, Atlas – revisited (bonus track).

What makes it special: Jim Grey’s soaring, frequently plaintive, falsetto-fueled vocals differentiate the C-Horse sound from that most contemporary rock and metal bands. The lyrics (written by Grey) have real depth and the music written by lead guitarist Vallen is technically complex, featuring a tightly interlocked rhythm section, comprising Adrian Goleby’s machine-gun guitar riffs, Josh Griffin’s precision drumming and Dave Couper’s varied bass playing styles.

The 10 tracks on the album are clustered under four chapters, To The Wind, The Caretaker, Ink and Graves, each of which describe a different artist.

The four songs in the first chapter, To The Wind, follow the fate of an alcoholic painter in decline, who must fight his addiction to save himself, or succumb to the demands of fans and indulge his weakness to produce one more great piece. The album’s second track, Will’s Song, is a standout, exploring the painter’s self-imposed pressure to excel in his craft; fast-paced drumming and a staccato guitar riff bookend the verses, but the real standout is the vocal-guitar-drum combination that accompanies the post-chorus line: “Let the colours run!“; what a pity it only appears twice on the song. The next track, The Hands Are the Hardest, is a mellow, melodic tune that begins with a distinctive riff and features vocals that recall ’80s American singer Christopher Cross. The song perfectly captures the theme of the chapter, depicting how the painter’s alcoholism is gradually robbing him of his artistic abilities. The chapter closes off with a short epilogue, the softly sung, Love Conquers All, as the artist thinks back to his life and his decisions: “If only I had the time, If only these hands were mine”…Jim Grey’s heartfelt delivery of these plaintive words gets me every time.

The second chapter, The Caretaker, about a musician who wants his songs be used for good, contains two songs. The first is an anthemic track that is sure to be popular in live performances, Songs for No One, with Grey’s falsetto reaching new highs in the chorus. The second track, Capulet, is good, but relatively speaking, not one of my favourites from the album.

The third chapter is Ink, and contains three songs which tell the story of a cynical poet named Ink (modeled on the fictitious gonzo journalist, Spider Jerusalem, from the Transmetropolitan comics) who works with his brother to improve the corrupt cyberpunk city they live in. Many reviewers have commented on the 3-minute spoken word track Inertia and the Weapon of the Wall, a piece of poetry written by Jim Grey. It takes some courage for a rock band to do this, as they are sure to be labeled as pretentious by some critics. I am not a fan of poetry, so I typically skip this track whenever I listen to the album, but admittedly, it’s an interesting recording, with the passionately delivered monologue spiced up with whispers and sound effects to accentuate key phrases. The third song in the chapter, The Cannon’s Mouth, is perhaps the heaviest track in the album, signposted by a hulking, oh-too-short, goosebump-inducing riff after the first chorus and another one after verse 5 at the end of the song.

And that brings us to the final chapter, Graves, which contains one song, a 15-minute-long opus of the same name, that I just can’t get enough of. The song is about a sculptor who is plagued by anxiety and the delusion that there is a rival stealing his work. It is constructed of four distinct parts, subtitled Faint Heart, A Few Peaceful Years, The Boy and The Broken Wheel and Hands Shape Stone. The opening riff of Faint Heart is truly cinematic and sets the tone for the rest of the section, with the urgency of the three verses conveying the sculptor’s anxiety, followed by a beautiful musical interlude that reminds me of some of Robert Fripp’s best solo work. This brings us to A Few Peaceful Years and the poignantly sung, deeply emotional chorus:

"We are the fire that whispers our mother's words
Help me, love (Help me to finish it)
We are the soil that joy gave form, you, oh
We are the dream and these are my father's hands
Help me, love (Help me to finish it)
We are the soil that joy gave form, ooh
Help me finish it"

The third section, The Boy and The Broken Wheel, switches down the pace further with an a capella bridge, leading to three beautifully written verses, before ending with the “We are the fire…” chorus from the previous section. The final section features a short saxophone solo by Swedish musician, Jørgen Munkeby. By this time, at the 12-minute-mark, I’m so emotionally exhausted that I use the climax crescendo to recover and slowly tune out, as the opening riff comes back to close out this amazing track. Graves was originally written to be released as an EP, and apparently was an arduous effort, taking two months to write and record, and leaving Sam Vallen creatively spent and dealing with writer’s block afterwards. It’s well worth the effort and no doubt will become one of the defining tracks of the band’s career.

The album ends with a bonus track, a re-recording of Atlas, a song from their 2013 album, The Tide, the Thief & River’s End. Having heard this new version first, I prefer its fuller production values to the original version. The lovely, wistful chorus feels like it could carry you away on the wind:

"The ocean at my window
Here, here I find myself again
All broken bones and eyes that wear their age
Like going home is etched on every page"

Given this was the first album for Adrian Goleby and Josh Griffin (they replaced Zac Greensill on guitar and Geoff Irish on drums respectively from Bloom), the cohesion between the musicians is extraordinary, as if they have been playing together all their lives. It’s been three years since their last album Rise Radiant came out (also, extremely enjoyable), and I wait with bated breath for their next release.

Here are the other bands/albums featured in this series:-