Caliban

Caliban
Caliban in pictured in Singapore above
Background information
Origin	Hattingen, Germany
Genres	Metalcore
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Lifeforce, Roadrunner, Century Media
Website	Official site
Members
Andreas Dörner Denis Schmidt Marc Görtz Marco Schaller Patrick Grün
Former members
Engin Güres Boris Pracht Robert Krämer

Caliban are a five-piece metalcore band from Germany^[1]. They have released seven studio albums to-date, and two split albums with the band Heaven Shall Burn. Although the band's sound is "metalcore", the band has stated that they have come from a hardcore scene and are a hardcore band.

History

Caliban was formed in Hattingen, Germany in 1997 under the name Never Again"^[2]. After six months of playing together, the band recorded their first two songs for a demo, which were never released. The songs were sent to several record labels, and Lifeforce Records was the first to offer the band a record deal. The band's first self-titled EP came out in the summer of 1998. To promote it, Caliban played many shows all over Europe and a few support shows for bands including Morning Again, Earth Crisis and Cro-Mags.

After their European tour in 1999, Caliban entered the studio to record their first full-length entitled A Small Boy and a Grey Heaven. The CD received favorable reviews in many big magazines and many smaller hardcore and metal zines. The band was described as a mixture of Slayer, Poison the Well and Hatebreed.^{[citation needed]} They also released the first part of a split-CD with Heaven Shall Burn, named The Split Program.

Vent came out in April 2001. Vent was released by Imperium Records and by Howling-Bull Records in Japan. Shortly after the release, Caliban was offered the opportunity to tour Japan to play the Beast-Feast 2001 in the Yokohama Arena, sharing stage with bands including Slayer, Pantera, Machine Head, Biohazard and Morbid Angel. The Japan trip was followed by a U.S. tour with Bloodjinn, which was interrupted by the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In August 2002 Caliban recorded their third official release Shadow Hearts. This record was more melodic and harmonic than its predecessors. In 2004 the band got a record deal with Roadrunner Records in Europe (Abacus Recordings in the US) and started to record their fourth Album The Opposite from Within alongside producer Anders Fridén, who is known for fronting In Flames.

In July 2005 the band released the second part of their split-CD with their friends from Heaven Shall Burn, called The Split Program II. The band released their fifth album called The Undying Darkness in February 2006 and toured with All Shall Perish, Bleeding Through and I Killed The Prom Queen for the "Darkness over Europe" tour.

In 2007 Caliban recorded their album The Awakening with producer Benny Richter and it was released in Germany on May 25. The album reached 36 in the German charts.

In 2009, the band toured with German band Kreator on the "Chaos Over Europe Tour". They also signed a worldwide contract with Century Media Records. They released their new album, Say Hello to Tragedy, on August 24, 2009. This album - just like The Awakening - reached 36th place on the german media charts. In Octorber and November they toured Europe on the "Beastfest European Tour 2009" with Suicide Silence, german friend-band Maroon and American acts Emmure and After the Burial.

Members

• Andreas Dörner – Vocals (did clean vocals in early albums)
• Denis Schmidt – Rhythm Guitar, Clean Vocals
• Marc Görtz – Lead Guitar
• Marco Schaller – Bass, Backup Vocals
• Patrick Grün – Drums & flute

Former

• Engin Güres – Bass
• Boris Pracht – Bass(deadsoil now)
• Robert Krämer – Drums

Discography

• 1997 Demo (1997) (unreleased)
• Caliban (EP) (1998)
• 1999 Demo (1999)
• A Small Boy and a Grey Heaven (1999)
• The Split Program with Heaven Shall Burn (2000)
• Vent (2001)
• Shadow Hearts (2003)
• The Opposite from Within (2004)
• The Split Program II with Heaven Shall Burn (2005)
• The Undying Darkness (2006)
• The Awakening (2007)
• Say Hello to Tragedy (2009)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Caliban

• Official site
• Caliban at MySpace
• Caliban at Roadrunner Records
• Caliban at Century Media Records