Caliban’s Gortz Says Band Will Return to U.S. Soon, New Album Heavier

If you're a Caliban fan, there certainly isn't a dearth of material from this German metalcore band. They are nothing if not prolific. Guitarist Mark Gortz told Noisecreep that writing music is almost like documenting his life and his moods in a musical journal. "You can hear what mood I was in when I was writing the music," the axeman said. "That's how I like to write and that's what I like you to hear in the music."

The band hasn't toured on U.S. soil in nearly three years, and that's a drought they plan to end upon the release of 'Say Hello to Tragedy.' The band chalks up the lack of recent U.S. presence due to label issues. "We had some problems with our old American label [Abacus] shutting down before the record was released in the States, and it had already been out in Europe for a year and a half. And they didn't license it elsewhere in the world. The cycle was over, and there was no point to come over and play. So we decided to start over," Gortz said.

Gortz admits that 'Say Hello to Tragedy' is "heavier than our previous two or three records. The melodies are different, too. The screams and the clean, melodic vocals are not so separated from one another. It's more mixed, so it feels more natural. We worked more on this. The previous album, 'The Awakening,' was rushed, so we had two years and we took our time writing 25 songs and took out the best 11 songs and went from there. We worked harder and people will hear that."

Gortz and his band remain untouched and undistracted by the business aspects that surround them, especially the label instability. "We are shielded from it by management," he said.

'Say Hello to Tragedy' is out Aug. 24 worldwide via Century Media.