Caustic The Man Who Couldn't Stop

It's often the case that when an artist has a critical and commercial success with an album that they hide in the safety of those formulas for their follow-up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Caustic's Matt Fanale is not that artist. Call it stupidity, call it bravery, or call it both, but Caustic's follow-up to the popular club stomp of 2011's The Golden V****a of Fame and Profit is the massive 18 track, 75-plus minute musical extravamaganza The Man Who Couldn't Stop, loosely inspired by each of the 18 chapters of the classic, awesomely mega-pretentious James Joyce novel Ulysses. And yes, the appropriate response is "Uh...what'" Bear with us... So you may ask yourself "Did Caustic make an awesomely mega-pretentious concept album'" Heck no-- that's way too much work. Caustic just wanted the challenge of using another work to be the inspiration for an album, and Ulysses was the most ridiculously amusing one he could think of. TMWCS is like a sonic marathon, spanning electronic genres from the digital hardcore of "Failing at the School of Life" to the old school EBM of "Bleed You Out" (with vocals by Android Lust), to the atmospheric trip-hop of the iVardensphere team-up "Ghost Like Swayze" to the 8 minute orchestral finale "Fin (Again) Begin (Again)". TMWCS not only showcases Caustic's warped, expanding electronic range but also explores new depths lyrically and creatively, as the album not only stands on its own as a single cohesive work, but, like Ulysses, contains layer after layer of meanings and relationships for the listener to decipher...if they feel like it. And if you think that this album is the end for The Man Who Couldn't Stop, you're sorely mistaken. It was given that title for a reason, so stay tuned...