Caltrop

Bio:
Since the days of Black Sabbath, the promise of heavy rock music has been this: that a perfect series of riffs, reinforced by a tightly-wound rhythmic unit, can deliver very real psychedelic effects, forcibly altering one's conscious state of being. Though post-modern doomsters have toyed with elements of the formula (witness: Earth, Melvins, Isis, etc), the principle importance of the mono-riff has remained intact. World Class, the debut full-length from North Carolina's Caltrop, is wildly -- even transcendently successful because the band's exhilarating performances are rooted in the awareness that their music has an uncanny, historically potent power. Indeed, Caltrop's impeccable arrangements deliberately suggest a sort of ascendant scaffolding, the very foundation necessary for the audacious work of spiritual transformation.

By any measure, Caltrop's musical agenda is a daunting one. But the band's essence has been distilled -- through the calculated ambition of experience -- into a pure, uncompromising force of nature. Today, there is no stopping them. Caltrop's members -- Sam Taylor (guitar, vox), Murat Dirlik (bass, vox), Adam Nolton (guitar), and John Crouch (drums) -- cut their teeth over the past decade in a cadre of North Carolina's hardest hitting combos (El Sucio, Hazerai, Pegasus, Red Smokes White, Country Bears), and their work in those bands has paid off with impressive chops and an almost impossible tightness. It is no surprise, then, that Caltrop's achievements have become noted internationally: Of their eponymous EP (self-released in 2006), Teardrop Explodes' glam-guy-turned-krautrock-expert-turned-shaman Julian Cope says, "These gentlemen unfold into areas only the most confident of motherfuckers dare take their shit. And while the drumming is truly something else, the hugely varied guitar playing sways from bilious, cyclical twin lead riffology to 'Eruption'-style Edward Van Halen-isms of the highest quality … Yowzah!" We couldn't have said it better ourselves. We think World Class will be the greatest metal record of 2008; enjoy!

Caltrop: World Class (2008)

1 Bad Wolf Good Wolf (7:25)
2 The Phlogiston Command (4:06)
3 Junn Horde (8:21)
4 Bloodroot (7:47)
5 Ascendent (9:26)
6 Slice-o-lator (3:15)
7 With a Fire in the Middle (8:24)

Update:
+ touring: August; November (tba: w/ The Curtains of Night)

Band members:
John Crouch (drums), Murat Dirlick (bass/vocals), Adam Nolton (guitar), Sam Taylor (guitar/vocals)

Releases:
+ World Class [HFQ006]: July 22 2008
+ Caltrop EP [self-released] 2006

Booking/Contact:
caltrop.band [at] gmail [dot] com

Band Websites:
myspace.com/caltropband
caltropnc.com

LISTEN:
+ tracks from World Class

** Purchase World Class from the HFQ webstore **

Reviews:
+ Praise for Caltrop's eponymous EP (self-released, 2006):

"Caltrop's recent self-released 4-song demo pulls from an array of influences that expand well beyond the region to create something which is not only unique but a rather pleasant surprise ... With a new recording planned in the spring I can say to keep your ears open for their next album. In the meantime I would urge fans of doomy, dissonant rock to experience this great little demo. Caltrop needs to be played loud so you can feel it... so forget the neighbors, take 27 minutes out of your life and crank it up!" -- Independent Clauses

"Caltrop's entrée combines the belief that passion can't be conveyed in 1/64th notes, but that metal--sludgy, dynamic and heavy, maybe like The Melvins, certainly like Sleep--can tell it exactly like it is ... This is the most cathartic thing that anyone in this band--which includes members of The Ladderback, Continent, Valient Thorr, Kerbloki, Pegasus and El Sucio--has released to date … Thrilling." -- The Independent Weekly

"This commingling of old-school space rock and current stoner-isms makes for a good companion to the likes of Nebula and Totimoshi in your CD player longing for something with muscled style and finesse." -- Left of the Dial