Flashback Friday: “Marigold” by Caligula’s Horse

When Prog Metal Decides to trade in the leather for a nice cardigan

Dec 12, 2025

Caligula’s Horse, the pride of the Australian progressive metal scene (and surely the only band named after a Roman Emperor’s trusty steed), took a noticeable and—gasp—catchy turn with their 2015 album, Bloom (re-released in a 10th anniversary edition on Nov. 7th, 2025) Having previously explored the hallowed halls of complex concept albums, here they decided to step into the sunlight. It’s a progressive metal album that sounds like it got a full eight hours of sleep and had a well-balanced breakfast.

The result is a record that’s less about confusing time signatures and more about crafting a musical narrative and supporting that narrative with fantastic hooks. Guitarist Sam Vallen and vocalist Jim Grey maintain their incredible technical standard, but the fretboard acrobatics now serve soaring, anthemic choruses instead of just existing to prove they have very long, agile fingers. Grey’s vocals, which possess a soap opera actor’s emotional range, are front-and-center, clean, and utterly compelling.

The album explores themes of growth, self-belief, and finding light after darkness—a common progressive trope, but here delivered with a genuine sense of vibrancy. Bloom is the sound of a band perfecting the balancing act: maintaining the rhythmic complexity and layered instrumentation metal fans crave, while adding a pop sensibility that suggests they might, just might, want to be played on the radio. It’s a great album, even if it might scare off the purists who insist their music features endless blast-beats and cookie monster vocals.

While Bloom offers spectacular epics like “Dragonfly” and dense tracks like “Turntail,” the song that truly encapsulates the album’s brilliance within the band’s new direction is the punchy, perfectly-paced track, “Marigold.” The infectious main riff that is both rhythmically complex (it’s prog, after all) and incredibly easy to latch onto, and doesn’t waste time with a long atmospheric buildup. Rather, it immediately establishes the album’s newfound confidence and energy. It’s the kind of track that makes listeners who usually avoid anything labeled “progressive” suddenly pay attention. Clocking in just over six minutes, it’s concise prog, which is a rare and beautiful beast. In short, “Marigold” is the most potent example of the band’s evolution: all the virtuosic skill remains, but it’s deployed in service of a fantastic song, making it the perfect gateway track for newcomers to this 10 year old offering from Caligula’s Horse.