Send "Caleb Lionheart " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Absolutepunk |
 After the excerpt from King's speech, you're immediately captivated by a bassline that is moving, catchy, and driving all at the same time, followed by a drum beat which matches perfectly, which forms the backbone of the first song, "Coney Island." Lyrically, the song touches on everything from Disney's purchase and subsequent leveling of Coney Island to the "Mayor of Lark Street," a homeless man who lives on the streets voluntarily in Albany, New York to pay the price for crimes he was never imprisoned for. The verses begin in a call and response tone, with vocalist Tony Bucci belting "Did you hear? (Did you hear?) Disney bought Coney Island..." building up to an absolute monster of a chorus."Make Believe," the next track, originally appearing on the band's 2007 acoustic EP of the same name, makes its full band debut on this EP. Touching on themes of forgiving yourself, the song is a beast. The drums are ferocious through and through, and the emotion in Bucci's voice could move even the most cold-hearted of people. The guitar work here is also impressive, with great riffs and lead guitar noodling and such. "Can we forgive ourselves?/Can we just make believe?/Can we just make amends?/Or at least just get some sleep for the time being?" will be stuck in your head for days, and you'll never want it to leave. Opening with a hell of a riff, "Flag Folding" is a song about "re-educating" foreign peoples and touching upon Dith Pran, a photojournalist from Cambodia who survived the Cambodian Holocaust. "You can calm a tongue by ripping it from the mouth/But you can't change my mind by muffling the sound" is a fine example of the band's lyrical skill, and stands out as one of the most powerful lyrics on the EP. The song slows its fast pace for a refreshing slow bridge before unleashing back into the thunderous chorus...full text |
| Punknews |
| On the surface, Caleb Lionheart's Climbing Up a Mountain, Just for the View seems a little less socially and politically assertive than its predecessor, 2008's Think Hardcore, Play Pop Punk EP. Truthfully, the band is just way more subtle about it this time around, proving themselves to be just as adept at more personal overtones; atop that, this is both a musical leap and bound. The band continues to put a New Found Glory-esque spin on wieldy, Marathon-esque melodic punk, but to be honest, both of those comparisons really aren't nearly as obvious as they were on Pop Punk. Sure, CL still certainly sound like a band that fit well within the modern scope of hardcore and skatepunk-influenced pop-punk bands (contemporaries Half Hearted Hero and Such Gold come to mind), but this EP's a little more realized, unique, and dare I say "mature"-sounding for them. (Even if there's a part in "Flag-Folding" that sounds way too melodically similar to the "breathe in / let it in deep" couplet from Set Your Goals' "Echoes.") In opener "Coney Island," frontman Tony Bucci asks "Did you hear Disney bought Coney Island?" with peppy, poppy backups emphasizing his rhetorical. They connect this to what such corporate co-opting means for them, though: "I guess I'm just tired of waiting for what I have to be taken away from me." Through all this translation to personal feeling is a more restrained and desperate feel to the band. Musically, this feels a little clumsy at times, but it's earnest as hell and the pleading, modestly toned vocal harmonies and hooks resonate nicely. "Make Believe" sounds slightly tighter, hearkening back to the band's smart skatepunk integration of yore....full text |
| Thepunksite |
| Within the first five minutes of arriving at my doorstop, Caleb Lionheart’s Climbing A Mountain Just For The View made me feel bi-polar. I looked at the artwork with no pre-conceived notions of who the band was and smiled at the title and artwork. The simple concept of climbing a mountain just for the view struck a chord with me both conceptually and visually and made me want to see what they could do. But as I opened the booklet I became wary. The live pictures scattered across the booklet made me nervous, it looked like a straight out hardcore band and while that genre has its merits – it’s never been my favourite. I sucked it up and threw the record in anyway and as I pressed play I was treated to a nice sound clip of Martin Luther King Jr condemning the divide between the wealthy and the poor. The music began and as soon as the opening line of “Did you hear Disney bought Coney Island?” I knew I was in for a highly energetic pop-punk album and never once looked back. With a stronger emphasis on the punk than the pop, Caleb Lionheart delivers a fast pop-punk record that sees four songs play through in just over sixteen minutes. There are flashes of greatness as they pull in moments of Marathon (particularly in the vocal department where he sounds like a mix between Aaron Scott and Zoli Teglas) and Crime In Stereo alongside sing-along choruses of politically minded lyrics. There’s a poppy flair that makes the songs that much more catchy but never do they overpower it. Instead they stay rooted in the punk rock structure of the song, propelled forward by some strong guitar riffs, gang vocals and classic punk rock drum beats....full text |
Caleb Lionheart lyrics
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