Requiem for The Great War
by Cory Casciato
The Metropolitan
The word "goth" conjures up images of humorless vampire wannabes lounging around a darkened parlor, sipping absinthe and discussing the dark arts. It might not be fair to paint the whole scene with such a broad brush, but, like most stereotypes, there's an element of truth to this one.
Replace that scene with three guys sitting around a cluttered suburban living room, drinking Pabst before noon and going off on subjects from music theory to video games and the history of World War I. Does that sound very goth? Maybe not, but that's Caustic Soul and they are perfectly comfortable with the label.
"I find it funny, but it's what I've always liked," said Mike Atchley, the band's singer and guitarist.
"It can be limiting, but also we don't really fit in anywhere else," added bassist Dave Spethman. "The goth crowd in Denver and across the country has been really accepting of us. We fit the vibe, I think."
As any goth fan will tell you, vibe is what the genre is all about. Musically, it's pretty wide open compared to most styles. Industrial, metal, synth pop, glam and nearly anything else can be incorporated, as long as the mood is right.
Dwelling on the dark edges of human existence doesn't mean conforming to the genre's stereotyped fascination with vampires and the occult. Human beings produce more than enough misery for themselves without ever delving into the supernatural. Caustic Soul looks to the real world for inspiration.
Their newest album, An Absence of Warmth, is a concept album about World War I, arguably one of the ugliest periods of recent human history.
"(There's a) scene in 'All Quiet on the Western Front' where he's stuck in no man's land, in a crater, with the Frenchman who's dying," Spethman said. "That kind of inspired (the song) 'Elysium Fields' and from there it just started building. Mikey (Atchley) really started getting into the history of it and both of us just delved back into it."
Besides introducing the horrors of chemical warfare to humanity and killing 14 million people, the so-called "Great War" set the stage for World War II, with its own attendant atrocities. It's a subject Caustic Soul knows plenty about and it served as an excellent setting for meditations on fear, horror, shock and loss.
"World War I was just a slaughter, that's all it was," Spethman said. "And it solved nothing. At the end of it the world was worse off than they were at the beginning of it."
Musically, the album provides an appropriate setting for such bleak subject matter. Dark, moody and atmospheric arrangements support Atchley's impossibly deep vocals. The guitar work ranges from quiet textural flourishes to full-on metal riffing. Much of the album has an epic feel, especially the opening track "Elysium Fields" and the closer, "Snakes and Ladders." A wide variety of influences are apparent, including obvious stalwarts of the style as the Cure and Bauhaus, along with hints of metal, industrial and, surprisingly, some sugary pop hooks that occasionally bob to the surface. 
"I'm the black sheep. I like pop. I'm a closet Roxette fan," explained keyboardist and second guitarist Bill Neiman.
"There's nothing closet about it," interjected Spethman. "We all know."
The band works this diverse range of influences into the mix by respecting each other's vision and working within the rules of music theory. The whole band has received some degree of formal musical training and they cite an unusual shared influence-a teacher at Casper College, where they all studied.
"Huge props to Dr. Gunderson," Neiman said. "Instead of just running wild, he'd make you work your ideas in with theory."
Caustic Soul have worked together since 1998, slowly honing their sound and building an audience for themselves. They've released three albums in that time, including Torrent, A Parliament of Rooks, and An Absence of Warmth. The first albums were self-released, but for Warmth they found a label, Gestalt Records. As a result they're getting widespread distribution, which they hope will lead to more attention from the press for both the band and the larger scene that surrounds it.
"It's completely ignored by the media for the most part," Spethman said. "I don't really know why. I think a lot of it is just like 'oh, that's just goth' and they don't give it a chance."
Despite the lack of media coverage, he sees the scene as healthy and vibrant. The Dark Arts Festival, which the band has been involved with since its inception, brought in 1,300 people this year and exposed many bands that didn't have a chance to be seen elsewhere. Spethman credits the festival as being instrumental in the band's burgeoning success.
"They're pretty much what broke us," he said. "We would not be where we are if it weren't for that festival."
Like most bands, they have ambitions for bigger and better things. Neiman, in particular, has been preparing for his moment for a long time.
"I always wanted to be a rock star," he said. "One of the things I asked for at Christmas was a full length mirror. I watched the way I walked and stood and everything, practicing my rock star poise."
Regardless of attention, or lack of it, Caustic Soul plans on continuing to do what they do indefinitely.
"Even if no one was at the shows and we never had shows, we'd still be getting together at Mike's house and playing songs," Spethman said. "Mike will have to run me off at sword point." |
