Caffeine – The Threshold
Release Date: 13th September 2024
Label: The Lasting Dose Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Heavy Metal, Sludge, Stoner Prog.
FFO: Cult of Luna, Voivod, Dvne, Baroness, Mutoid Man.
Review By: Andy Spoon
German Stoner-prog band Caffeine is set to release their forthcoming LP, The Threshold September 13th 2024 on The Lasting Dose Records. Fans of bands like Mutoid man, Baroness (older), and Voivod are likely to enjoy The Threshold, as it tends to lean into heavier groove rock with a fuzzy, heavy, even “chunky” guitar tone that helps build a tsunami of volume for its audience.
While the LP is shorter than most, it still feels full, with most tracks seeming to be full length. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a little more content on the record, as it is only 8 tracks, but features 2 interlude tracks. That means that the audience only really gets 6 full-length tracks to enjoy. Nevertheless, I was still impressed with the 6 tracks that we did get. Having an album that ends up being 30–40 minutes (or so) and still an LP, for posterity’s sake, gives listeners the opportunity to consider spinning it twice, something I happily did.
I’ve been really excited for some of the sludgy albums on the release list this year, especially for DVNE, so my expectations for Caffeine were a little low. I was generally impressed with the album’s total package, giving me hope that 2024 was going to be a good year for the subgenre. I have seen cases where there have been one or two dynamite releases that seemed to carry the whole genre. 2024 is going to be a year where several bands have had some kick-ass records that gave me hours of entertainment.
The vocals are varied from chorus-filtered cleans in some places, to growling melodic fry that gives that “cult of luna” or heavier (earlier) Baroness “grit” that gets my blood rushing. I was glad to see that there were a couple of tracks that really had up-tempo speed, namely the title track The Threshold, which had a speedy, Mutoid Man-esque tempo. I liked the fact that Caffeine can go between faster and slower, heavier tracks. I did notice that the guitar tone and volume tends to be the most-forward of all the instruments, which was really exciting, as they are executed very well across the whole album.
The band doesn’t list The Threshold as being an album that fans of Voivod would like, but I really believe that these guys are tapping into the darker, uglier (compliment) side of stoner-prog that Voivod has seemed to have occupied for decades now. I think that most fans will spin the title track over and over for its dynamic speed and absolute enjoyability. I feel like DVNE and Cult of Luna are a little more “serious” from a sound standpoint, everything being absolutely dramatic and dark. The Threshold seems to give a more thrashy, violent version of the same influences that tend to have more urgency and groove.
The only thing that I wished for on this album was two more tracks, honestly. I don’t really know if that would have made it a 5/5 for me, but I think that Caffeine would have etched their name right alongside DVNE as one of the top 3 albums of the year for the subgenre. That being said, the year isn’t over, and I am still spinning The Threshold, which is a lot more than I can say for other albums that I’ve spun this year purporting to be of the same influence and fandom. I think that the raucous guitars, tempo, and rougher vocals make this a contender for AOTY in the stoner-prog genre, failing only to give a little bit more for us to love and not just feel like a long EP.
(4 / 5)
