Caliber 666
Blood Fueled Chaos

I think Caliber 666 has spent a bit too much time working on their band name and perhaps a few minutes too little working on the music. Most you you probably see the allusion to weapons in the band name and more specifically to fire arms, which are defined in size by their caliber. The most common weapons are usually between 20 and 50 in caliber in the common inch reference. A caliber 20 means that the gun has a .20 inch diameter in the caliber, so to have a 6.66 caliber (a caliber 666) is not exactly something we see on the ordinary fire arm, not even bazookas or canons have that kind of diameter, hence we can be pretty sure that the band doesn't imply the caliber size with their number, but I think that what they've done is putting a sublime satanic reference with the number in their name but since it's so sublime and hard to see, I'm pretty sure you'll need to take another look at the band name to see it: Caliber 666. No? Exactly! Impossible to spot unless you know about it, since most people thinks "wow, a caliber 666 i a pretty big caliber" when they see the name. But as I said, I think it's a hint to something satanic. "WHAT?" is probably what you're thinking now, "how could you see something like that?". Well, as Iron maiden thought us, 666 is the number of the beast - or the devil or even Satan as he's known in his shape of an ice hockey player. So with all this cleverness they've putted in their band name, have something rubbed off to the music as well?

Let me put it this way: No!

'Blood Fueled Chaos' lacks every form of cleverness or ingeniousness or resourcefulness you can think of. This is death metal in the more scaled down shape, played exactly like it's been played by hundreds of bands before them. I think "old school" is the word to use, this kind of primitive production with the only aim to be as dark as possible, just like most of the "old school" bands see it and this has resulted in a kind of music that speaks well to some people but this is a very small group of people with a most specific preference in music. A group of people that isn't impressed by pop music played on the radio. Or commercial success. Or awards through media or committees. Or by peoples' votes either. This is a group of people that, just like the musicians them selves, thinks that a big fan-base almost is something negative, since it's a sign of selling out and not to do the artistic thing they consider themselves doing. And within this group is where we find Caliber 666, a band with a satanic name playing old school death metal - could this really be something ?

Let me put it this way: No!

I can't say 'Blood Fueled Chaos' is the worst album I've heard in my life no matter how I turn it because it's quite far from those real low-life albums we've got, but it's still not an album I think will appeal to many voluntarily and make them willing to invest in the band. This 42 minute album has ten songs and seven of these could apparently be found on their 2007 demo and the remaining three was all new on this release (which I'm shamefully admitting that I'm 1 1/2 years late to review). The band hails from Sweden and this isn't much of a surprise considering the fact that most band that has preceded Caliber 666 to play this death 'n' roll version of old school death are Swedish. Since they roll their death, the music has melodies and instrumentally they're playing more than hammer out sounds (which is how the really crappy bands make their "music") but it still sounds dark, flat and mostly annoying. The uninspired vocals are mostly made through shouting disjointed to a wall of bass riffing for music. I think the album is a bit too long and it's not really getting anywhere so half way through is where my urge to turn the whole thing off usually kicks in, but I don't because I'm awaiting some kind of clever save. So, does it come? Something exciting that makes me re:evaluate the whole album?

Let me put it this way: No!

Nothing happens and all though I think the second half is somewhat better than the first, you might as well turn the whole thing off as the first song fades out as what follows are just these small variations on that same song over and over for another 37 minutes. Some of the songs find something that's slightly different, often a guitar line or something like that, but mostly it's the same thing happening repeatedly and I'm sorry to say this but that's not a positive feature. I can't help thinking that 'Blood fueled Chaos' won't work in many contexts. It's hardly the kind of album you play on a romantic night with the girlfriend (or boyfriend). And it's hardly an album that works on a party or disco or your drinking night at home with the friends. Or the dance floor at a club. Neither will this album work well as theme music for a television series or movie or as the greeting music for a sport team as they enter the field. And I'm pretty sure it won't work on radio either. So, where will it work? Well, probably at home with the younger men that has become outcasts of society, living at home with their parents and dress as black as their hearts and trust in the humanity are. Not particularly surprising when you think of it. This is an album that doesn't break any boundaries or horizons beyond where this kind of music is already well established. It will probably speak to that group very well, probably better than most bands, but not to anyone else.

The best track comes at number nine as is called Genocide, which is the track that probably will work best for other than the old school death metalers as well. As a whole, though, this is a long process of death 'n' roll, old school, and I can't help feeling that… no, it's not for me.