By Caleb Stanislaw: Rock / Alt-Rock Review
The other night I got the urge to delete my Facebook, and somehow I did it without the support of Caterpillars, but only because we hadn’t met yet.
Spinning this record (via .mp3) made me feel justified in my action. Social media is a scourge of the people, right? I know, it helps us communicate. But didn’t we do that just fine before?
As I let Caterpillars crawl all over me, I heard many of my own sentiments regarding the direction of society and culture echoed back. I had no idea my thoughts sounded like Muse.
Caterpillars’s new album In the Company of Wolves is a super tight collection of big arena tunes. The playing is technically great and the songwriting is thoughtful—I really love the bass playing. It’s a bit more over-produced sounding than what I’m typically into, but it’s very listenable.
The political messages are where the band shines, though. We need our artists to critique the ugly truths of society. These guys are tackling issues like unemployment, taxation, overpopulation, and of course the ubiquity of social media. It’s a lot of social observations to pack into a five-song EP, but somehow, Caterpillars manage.
The last song on Company of Wolves is probably my favorite. In “Overpopulation”, the lyric “What good is your heart if you don’t feel compassion / What good are the words if you only mean a fraction,” resonated with my recent experiences.
I’ve been questioning things, is all. But it feels good to feel right, and sometimes those of us who question the way things are can be made to feel a little, well, weird (in a bad way).
But I digress. What I’m saying is play this record for your friends. It’s a great conversation starter. Caterpillars take some hardline stances, and they’re not shy at all about being political. They’re trying to call us out, and that’s refreshing.
