The Kalling ~ 3 (EP) (album review) ... 3 is the abbreviation for 'low-fi death metal stomp'!

Style: black metal, heavy metal
Label: self-released
Year: 2013
Home: Texas

Members: Bryan 'B-Ray' Ray ~ guitars/vocals
Gerald 'G-Man' Barnett ~ drums


In their third release, following two back to back 2011 releases, the duo of the Kalling have gone for a wider more exploratory palette of sound, or at least it feels different on the whole even if the changes aren't essentially too drastic. The Kalling have always created a "low-fi death metal stomp", as I've previously described them, but 3 feels like the boys have decided to slow things down even more at times, got some new studio effects at their disposal & played with the vocals a lot more, which is the most obvious change. Opener "Snake Charmer" features reversed vocals, screaming & perhaps a Mercyful Fate ambiance to the vocals, while "Abomination Man" includes growling/screaming for the chorus with the more talking/singing vocals of past albums for the verses. In addition to the new vocal workout the songs feel that they plod much more than the earlier albums. "Abomination Man" crawls while "Snake Charmer" drones, a technique they'd always found their greatest successes with, yet this is a reinvention not a repeat of the past. Essentially, the music feels stripped back, but there's no loss as the new vocals make up for it, the texture has moved from the guitars & drums to the vocals. While at first it sounds like the Kalling has gone more mainstream metal in their approach ... one wonders what inspired this change ... the following four songs throw out all expectations. The most dynamic track "Hypnotizing The Masses" has everything put into a blender to come out as a swirling musical kaleidoscope that brings a psychedelic feel into play. "The Number" is the most straight forward song, more heavy metal than black metal & reminiscent of traditional 80's metal. But, this is the calm before the storm, with the gnarly Slayer-esque "Wizards Of War" that truly fuses old Kalling with the new Kalling sound. Getting a facelift is the theme of 3 & it's an exciting facelift that makes the album a great addition to what the Kalling has already done. Also needing mention is the concluding track "Coma", more of a bonus track or coda as it's only vocals & guitar, of a guy talking from a coma. A very creeping ending to a great album & drawing upon B-Ray's lyrical prowess when it comes to first hand storytelling. Though, it's really not a coda as lyrically much of the album looks at things that are coming to an end or in a breakdown & obviously this last song is thus the perfect ending, because death isn't pretty.

The Kalling ~ Evil Kalling You (album review) ... Listen in & pay attention!

Style: death metal, heavy metal
Label: self-released
Year: 2011
Home: Texas

Members: Bryan 'B-Ray' Ray ~ guitars/vocals
Gerald 'G-Man' Barnett ~ drums

The Kalling's debut A World To Come was a low-fi death metal stomp I previously described as what might be created by the ghost of Aleister Crowley or dredged out of the Loch Ness. This is the lost alternative soundtrack to Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising, not the mushy instrumental about to be formally released by Jimmy Page ... which Anger heard & refused. The Kalling comes just a few decades too late to be of service. The creatively titled Evil Kalling You was released within a few months of A World To Come, attesting to the the high creativity & energy of the union of two old hand musicians ... let alone the fact the Kalling's recordings come a decade after their formation & they've had lots of rehearsal time. Evil Kalling You doesn't diverge too much from its predecessor with thick chunky rhythms at Black Sabbath speed over a drum beat that at times seems to be the main catalyst of forward movement with lots of little touches, with vocals growled, spoken & whispered over it all. While the debut was a concept album of the apocalypse, with the highlight being the haunting eight minute "Death March" that's exactly how its sounds & a metal dirge if there ever one was, Evil Kalling You is not so much a sequel but now a turn from the physical landscape to the psychological one with a romp through inner demons (i.e. "Internal Meltdown", "Evil Kalling You"), the devil (i.e. "Right Hand Of The Devil") & pain & misery. While the first album was full of sound effects and lots of backing vocals, this takes a much more basic approach, though there is a lot of vocal experimentation (i.e. "Internal Meltdown", "Right Hand Of The Devil") just sans the backing vocals. Though the sound effects were a nice touch & particularly lent themselves to the apocalyptical theme, their loss here gives this its own feeling. The sound of the mind is a slow sparse crawl. The mind might be a cluttered world but deep inside it's a lonely beast. The only real problem is the low-fi quality doesn't have the vocals as upfront as they could be making some of the lines difficult to hear. & there is also a bit of monotony on a few songs that seem to drag (i.e. "Blood Red", "Deadly Storm", "Open Your Eyes"), the irony being that these are the apocalyptical songs which have more in common with the themes of A World To Come & feel like tracks from those sessions ... so remove them & what remains is a strong concept EP album of inner turmoil, even with an instrumental in "Rebirth" as a moment of strange silence.

The Kalling ~ A World To Come (album review) ... Death march!

Style: death metal, heavy metal
Label: self-released
Year: 2011
Home: Texas

Members: Bryan 'B-Ray' Ray ~ guitars/vocals
Gerald 'G-Man' Barnett ~ drums

It might be the underground production quality that, unintentionally or not, pushes the vocals far out front or maybe it's the occasional backing vocals echoing out lines in a duet manner (i.e. "Savage Rain"), or the droning guitar lines in the background underneath the verses (i.e. "In The Darkness") but the result is something that sounds like death metal as if coming out of Aleister Crowley's ghostly & lonely Loch Ness mansion ... or at least music to foretell the future by. The debut from a pair of old music industry hounds, who combined resume includes playing with bands such as Slaughter, Lizzy Borden & the Marshall Tucker Band, a follow-up Evil Kalling You was already in the works before the ink had set on the A World To Come attests to the high creative energy of this union. A World To Come, as the title belays, is a concept album of apocalyptic ideas mixed with politics, terrorism, corruption & old fashioned good & evil. It's not fancy or flashy but is definitely hypnotic. It might be the low production but it's made the album better because of it & it'll become assuredly an addictive listen. The eight minute long stomp "Death March", double the length of any other song, haunts the album early on & brings the evil to ground zero, literally, with its moaning deathly repetition that ends as fast as any actual war ... that is it goes on till you feel sick & then that's when you feel it's power hit you. If you want ghastly metal that crawls instead of twists, turns & then fizzles with flash then the Kalling has put together something you should enjoy. The one bump in the road is the instrumental "2012". Not that there's anything wrong with riffing guitars using the always cool doppler effect but, like many instrumentals, its often weaker than the arrangements of the vocal songs & doesn't particularly add anything to the whole other than a break which this album is too short to need.