Caliber 666, Blood Fueled Chaos

There are a good number of bands out now that are hoisting the Old-school Swedish Death Metal flag above themselves — some rightfully so, others not so much. Sweden’s Caliber 666 is one of those that sort of falls in the middle despite their place of origin.

The band’s debut effort, Blood Fueled Chaos, comes with a little additional street-cred by featuring Dismember’s Matti Karki and Entombed’s L.G. Petrov on guest vocals (“Let the Blood Flow” and “Worthless” respectively), but there are elements within the debut that span other geographical areas, as well. The guitars aren’t quite as fuzzed out as the nasty chainsaws wielded by the OSDM forefathers. They carry a thicker tone as heard in the early days of the Floridian scene (think Obituary) and some of the riffs even carry a touch of a Slayer influence. All this is a good thing, of course. You invariably want a band to have their own sound. I just don’t believe Caliber 666 can be tagged as true Old-school Swedish Death Metal.

That all said, Blood Fueled Chaos is a bruising album, keeping it simple when needed (“Worthless”) and expanding song structures where warranted (“A Part of the Art”) with blackened tinges. The only problem is that this give and take ultimately affects the song writing to the point that several of the tracks loose their flow, leaving the music sounding a bit disjointed. These flaws can be overlooked, but they’re still there.

All in all, Caliber 666‘s first full-length effort is still an enjoyable piece of death metal and quite the promising debut. The early developmental issues with the band’s song writing will eventually fade with time and I cannot wait to hear from these guys as they progress and mature as a band. I’m sure they will end up delivering some stellar death metal in the years to come.

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Additional Notes:
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