CAVEAT – Kobayashi Maru

Doom metal has always been a fascinating genre too me. It has the capacity to drag you into a melodic world that transfers you to another plane of existence, while simultaneously having the capacity to validate all the stereotypes people that don’t like the genre will throw in your face. The American band Caveat seems interested in appealing to that larger crowd by mixing in elements of death and stoner metal with a musical foundation that is firmly planted within doom metal.

Kobayashi Maru is a five track EP that offers an interesting taste of things to come from this American quartet. It features a band that has a fairly succinct sound that is easy to identify in each track, but the variety offered for each song also shows that the band could polish their sound a little on their next release in order to get a much more rewarding musical experience. It is an EP that offers a satisfying experience but never manages to stand out as something special. Kobayashi Maru is good, but regretfully not all that memorable.