Review by Jack on February 25, 2003.

Canaan as some of you may know have been hovering in and out of the metal/alternative music scene for quite a number of years, putting out a few records here and there and achieving quite a substantial name for themselves with their ultra-melancholic and brooding dark music.

"A Calling to Weakness" is simply a great album. While not being ultra heavy with guitar riffs or drum blasts, Canaan have created an album that is monstrously heavy with atmosphere. This is an album that is made or broken with the subtle musical textures that Canaan employ. "A Calling to Weakness" is certainly not the most dense of musical pieces, but nor does it have to be. I think the beauty of Canaan lies in their ability to simply hint at where they are going with a particular song or part of a song. Canaan will always lead you to the door, but they will never let you in. "A Calling to Weakness" requires you to be absorbed by the music and then you are the person that will complete the sonic experience for yourself. Whether you like to concentrate on your music or leave them as simply background noise is, of course up to you to decide.

The real beauty of Canaan is that through "A Calling to Weakness" they are able to move through a large variety of pleasing sounds. 'Grey' for example is probably the most intense and dense track on a sheer musical level providing what could be termed as the climax of the album. Heartfelt vocal chords over the top of some decently heavy riffing makes for a good track and 'Grey' is no exception. But then Canaan slip back into a different form of song which can be seen through the track 'Essere Nulla' which is in essence warmly spoken words over the top of atmospheric and soothing music. I guess whichever way you want to turn with "A Calling to Weakness" you will be certain to find something very pleasing.

Bottom Line: You can do a lot worse than pick up this album. If darkwave, gothic, atmospheric, experimental music is your sort of thing, then you have this album. The rest of you folks look up Canaan and give "A Calling to Weakness" a spin.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Jack on February 25, 2003.

Canaan as some of you may know have been hovering in and out of the metal/alternative music scene for quite a number of years, putting out a few records here and there and achieving quite a substantial name for themselves with their ultra-melancholic and brooding dark music.

"A Calling to Weakness" is simply a great album. While not being ultra heavy with guitar riffs or drum blasts, Canaan have created an album that is monstrously heavy with atmosphere. This is an album that is made or broken with the subtle musical textures that Canaan employ. "A Calling to Weakness" is certainly not the most dense of musical pieces, but nor does it have to be. I think the beauty of Canaan lies in their ability to simply hint at where they are going with a particular song or part of a song. Canaan will always lead you to the door, but they will never let you in. "A Calling to Weakness" requires you to be absorbed by the music and then you are the person that will complete the sonic experience for yourself. Whether you like to concentrate on your music or leave them as simply background noise is, of course up to you to decide.

The real beauty of Canaan is that through "A Calling to Weakness" they are able to move through a large variety of pleasing sounds. 'Grey' for example is probably the most intense and dense track on a sheer musical level providing what could be termed as the climax of the album. Heartfelt vocal chords over the top of some decently heavy riffing makes for a good track and 'Grey' is no exception. But then Canaan slip back into a different form of song which can be seen through the track 'Essere Nulla' which is in essence warmly spoken words over the top of atmospheric and soothing music. I guess whichever way you want to turn with "A Calling to Weakness" you will be certain to find something very pleasing.

Bottom Line: You can do a lot worse than pick up this album. If darkwave, gothic, atmospheric, experimental music is your sort of thing, then you have this album. The rest of you folks look up Canaan and give "A Calling to Weakness" a spin.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 8

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Yener on May 9, 2019.

Months ago, I was approached by Intrepid guitarist Simo to check out their first EP, Empress of Devastation - and because I don’t get many, or should I say, any review requests from Estonia, I of course accepted to give this young band a listen. 

It’s an exciting thing, to listen to such a new band that isn’t signed to any labels or doesn’t have any previous LP’s or EP’s. This is their very first effort. Their baby steps.

These aren’t baby steps at all though, as these guys certainly know what they are doing. In fact, these steps are quite hard, and quite solid. As soon as the EP really starts with “Inside the Wall”, you get that sense of old Obituary. Now I don’t know about you guys, but I really miss that vibe - those dirty, sludgy riffs, with those old school vocals. Vocalist Kevin Marks sounds absolutely nothing like John Tardy, but the vibe is there. A lot of it has to do with how the songs carry themselves, but a lot of it also has to do with the drumming - there are no blast beats here. It’s completely old school death metal drumming and wouldn’t sound out of place at all on the earlier Death and Cannibal Corpse albums.

Speaking of old school death metal, I’m happy to report that there is no Morbid Angel worship here - something which I am so sick of I could rant about it for several weeks. No, Intrepid take a more straight forward and brutal attack, but still retain enough finesse so it’s not totally caveman, either. First of all, guitarist Simo does a great job with some no-nonsense guitar work. He is also creative with the note selection and also the arrangement of the songs and their sections. While it sounds primitive compared to say, Cattle Decapitation, well that’s the whole point. Intrepid don’t just blaze through ten sections and call it a song, you can tell they’ve thought about the arrangements for quite a while. Each guitar break, each bass break is carefully crafted, so the end result is that it hits with a lot more impact. It’s like being stomped on slowly, rather than being kicked really fast. 

The vocals as I mentioned above are really well fitting for this sound, I don’t think they could be any better to be honest. The rhythm made up of Kalli Talonpoika on bass and Madis Kaljurand on drums is really solid, as solid as you would expect. I appreciate how the bass can really be heard in the mix, and also that there are no blast beats. The mix I also really appreciate as it literally sounds like it was recorded in the 80’s. However, there’s one sound on here, especially on “Empress of Devastation” during the 4:26 mark, which I have no idea what it belongs to. It’s a weird frequency in the mix which I can’t quite put my finger on. Is that the guitar pick? If so, that’s one fucking loud guitar pick. It literally squeaks through the entire section. But nevertheless, the mixing job on this EP is quite great. Everything can be heard loudly and clearly, which is the most important thing.

Overall this is an EP I really enjoy and displays, at least for me, a lot of good things to come. I hope the guys Intrepid stick to it because this is not the type of death metal typically released anymore. Everyone is so focused on speed and technique that I really do miss bands like Solstice and early Malevolent Creation. For those who like the old school death metal vibe and style, give this a spin, it will absolutely not let you down.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10