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Caliban - Biography


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Biography

Caliban was formed in Hattingen, Germany in 1997 under the name Never Again. After six months of playing together, the band recorded their first two songs for a demo, which was never released. The songs were sent to several record labels, and Lifeforce Records was the first to offer the band a record deal. The band's first self-titled EP came out in the summer of 1998. To promote it, Caliban played many shows all over Europe and a few support shows for bands like Morning Again, Earth Crisis and Cro-Mags.

After their European tour, in 1999 Caliban entered the studio to record their first full-length, entitled A Small Boy and a Grey Heaven. The CD received favorable reviews in many big magazines and many smaller hardcore and metal zines. The band was described as a mixture of Slayer, Poison the Well and Hatebreed. They also released the first part of a split-CD with Heaven Shall Burn, named The Split Program.

Vent came out in April 2001. Vent was released by Imperium Records and by Howling-Bull Records in Japan. Shortly after the release, Caliban was offered the opportunity to tour Japan to play the Beast-Feast 2001 in the Yokohama Arena, sharing stage with bands including Slayer, Pantera, Machine Head, Biohazard and Morbid Angel. The Japan trip was followed by a U.S. tour with Bloodjinn, which was interrupted by the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In August 2002 Caliban recorded their third official release Shadow Hearts. This record was more melodic and harmonic than its predecessors. In 2004 the band got a record deal with Roadrunner Records in Europe (Abacus Recordings in the US) and started to record their fourth Album The Opposite from Within alongside producer Anders Fridén, who is known for fronting In Flames.

In July 2005 the band released the second part of their split-CD with their friends from Heaven Shall Burn, called The Split Program II. The band released their fifth album called The Undying Darkness in February 2007 and went tour with All Shall Perish, Bleeding Through and I Killed The Prom Queen for the "Darkness over Europe" tour.

Caliban recorded their 2007 album The Awakening with producer Benny Richter, and was released in Germany on May 25.