Caustic Method: The Virus

NY’s groove metallers spread themselves too wide

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Caustic Method are a four-piece from New York State who have been together over a decade.

Their newest release, The Virus, contains five tracks from their 2014 EP of the same name, plus five more.

At its most brutal, this album boasts the sort of unapologetically hungry riffs and strong gravelly vocals found in Cavalera Conspiracy or early Chimaira. At other times, the band try too hard, suggesting Static X without the shameless catchiness. S.D.V. is a snappy, windmill-inducing track meshing dirty rock’n’roll with metallic aggression and varied vocal delivery. Six Feet has a similarly strong pull, with weighty grooves and a memorable chorus. The whispered rappy vocals, deep roars and persuasive rhythms of Which Way The River Run are awesome but it loses momentum, and Anti Hero is exhaustingly dramatic. Naming Meshuggah, Machine Head and American Head Charge as influences, the fact they’ve also toured with everyone from Hatebreed to Nashville Pussy makes their mixed style less surprising. CM excel at crushing delivery with a groove, but the album seems disjointed and lacks killer songs.