Album Review: Caspian – Caspian

Album Review: Caspian – Caspian

Reviewed by Oli Gonzalez

It’s that time of the year. Days are getting shorter as autumn is here. Summer festival season is a distant memory. We can start reflecting on the year and thinking of some of the best releases of 2026. We’ve seen stunning post rock efforts from MONO, Hammock, If These Trees Could Talk, Nordic Giants, and many more. Now Caspian have just forcefully inserted themselves into that conversation of albums of the year with their stunning self titled effort!

To understand the genius of this, their sixth full length, let’s have a quick skim over their discography.

See, Caspian has done something quite remarkable here! Not through innovation or by radically pushing boundaries. Rather by looking to the past and what’s worked for them there and bringing this to the future. Earlier albums “The Four Trees” and “Tertia” succeed by leaning on a core of huge sweeping cinematic soundscapes and opulent melodies. Then their next few releases saw the band experiment with more ambient lounge moods, with electronic beats and in some ways straying away from what made their previous efforts so appealing to some. Before “On Circles” saw some more experimentation with ‘Collapser’ being a heavier post metal like effort that wouldn’t look out of place on a Russian Circles record, as well as the acoustic driven country like anthemic sing-a-long ‘Circles On Circles’, redefining their categorisation as solely an instrumental band.

Now, it’s 2026. Their 6th album.

Guitarist Jonny Ashburn described how the band have ‘looked back and reset to the fundamentals’. This is abundantly clear in the opening effort ‘Hiraeth’. No drums, bass, and just the frankly gorgeous guitars left to shine in the limelight, the end result is something quite remarkable. Genuinely, I remember just being blown away by the sheer beauty of this piece. No fancy effects or reverb – another one of Jonny’s promises of using this only when he felt absolutely necessary – just a violin to underline the emotional potency and simplicity of this piece. The breathing space and lack of unnecessary texture from other instruments is what makes this so special. Like the iconic and world famous track ‘The Lonely Shephard’ made famous by Andre Reiu.

These principles are what made the first two albums so effective and why they rank so highly with me, and I’m seeing this again on “Caspian”.

We see these in action again on ‘Far Country’, only now the bass, drums, and distorted guitars join in to create colossal walls of sound with an intensity to rival Amenra or Cult Of Luna! Seriously, make sure you’re sitting somewhere comfortable when you listen to this for the first time. Though once again, simplicity is the name of the game. Simplicity and abandoning needless complexity. Seemingly the same thought processes going into ‘Remain’ only that we’re introduced to some absolutely breathtaking melodic tapestries weaving and shimmering their way into your consciousness! We all feel pain. Physical, emotional, or otherwise. One dose of this may well be the antidote you need!

‘A Great Fire’ seems to be the one of the more complex on the album, with this densely layered number requiring the Rosetta Stone to properly decode and analyse, alongside crushing and rewarding cathartic peaks. Whereas ‘Noone Left To Tell’ acts like a massage for the senses, soothing, calming yet minimalistic in its delivery.

‘A Waltz For The End’ is…well, a waltz for the end! Staying in the ¾ time, all distortion and overdrive are removed and it’s a time for quiet reflection and bringing yourself back to earth after this euphoric ride!

What’s more to say? We’re looking at a genuine and legitimate album of the year right now!

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