Customer Reviews

III - They Call Us Death

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Do you ever find yourself sitting at home, thinking, "Hey, what would absolutely shred my entire face off right now?"

I have an answer for you, it is the album "III - They Call Us Death" by the Calabrese brothers from Phoenix, AZ.

If you like good stuff, and I am assuming you do since you are here, treat yourself and pick this up.

If you don't like good stuff, get this anyway and try to reform your wicked ways.

Also, I am not saying that if you buy this album every single lady you meet will want to have sex with you and people will worship you like some sort of demi-god, but if you buy this album, every single lady you meet will want to have sex with you and people will worship you like some sort of demi-god.

Is anyone still reading this? You are? Well then also go and get "The Traveling Vampire Show" and "13 Halloweens" by these guys.

Don't get me wrong this is still the Calabrese we know and love, but this album is a step in a harder more death rock sound than the other 2 albums! This is still pure horror punk, but this album features more progressive/technical guitar work and is more guitar driven than the other albums! The sound of the guitars is noticeably darker and mostly abandons the simple and typical 3 chord progressions of the average punk rock band! The sound on this album as I mentioned has more of a death rock sound than the other albums and is more similar to Samhain than the Misfits in many cases, and it is a logical and welcomed step for the brothers Calabrese! And the album still has the incredible melody and big, catchy choruses that Calabrese always have, there is just a bit more focus on every note than the other albums! I have heard that most of this album was written by Bobby and you can tell he wanted to have his guitar play a more prominent role in the band! The last album, The Traveling Vampire Show, hinted at this sound and had a couple songs here and there that were like that, but this album is another step up! The songs feature longer and more prominent breakdowns in almost every song and more intricate guitar leads and solos than previous albums!

The album also features a couple new things to Calabreses sound, first of all they have a keyboardist for a couple songs, but it is not all that noticeable! Also Davey adds in some screams to add another dimension of aggression to Calabreses sound, but that is also only in a few tracks! This album definitely seems to be a bit more consistent than the last album! While I liked every song on the last album I thought there were standout tracks and other skippable tracks, this album is more akin to the first album in that you can play the whole album through and enjoy most of the songs basically equally!

Highlights for me would be: They Call Us Death, Black Anathema, Blood of the Wolf, Venomwolf, Violet Hellfire, The Machine of Instant Death, and Loveless God! They Call Us Death and Black Anathema demonstrate this new Calabrese sound almost perfectly as the songs are harder and darker than most of the songs on the previous 2 albums! They Call Us Death starts off with some very dark and heavy guitar work and as always brutal drumming by Davey Calabrese! The chorus to the song is just amazing, it is easily one of the best songs on the album!

Black Anathema has a very hard driving bass line and then some very cool guitar riffs kick in and the song erupts into the melodic chorus that is impossible to not get stuck in your head! The instrumental breakdown towards the end is one of the best the guys have done, very long, and features some truly amazing guitar work by Bobby that impressed me immensely as he has come so far over the last couple years!

Blood of the Wolf is a post-hardcore banger that is absolutely bursting with pure punk rock energy! Very fast and very aggressive and features some cool screaming vocals by Davey Calabrese, which sounds really, really cool! Another incredible breakdown towards the end of the song that sounds really evil and dark, and Bobby's guitar work continues to impress with more great work by him, and always solid bass playing by Jimmy!

Venomwolf is a very hard hitting song, which is really lead by the awesome drum playing of Davey Calabrese and features some evil and heavy guitar riffs by Bobby and some abrasive bass work by Jimmy! Davey Calabrese also unleashes an insane scream at the end of the song, which is awesome and I would really like them to have Davey do this far more often!

Violet Hellfire is pretty much classic Calabrese with as I've mentioned several times very cool lead guitar work by Bobby Calabrese and an energetic and catchy chorus. I sound like a broken record, but Bobbys guitar work sounds amazing again and his cool leads are becoming a trademark of Calabrese!

The Machine of Instant Death has a perfect voice clip from some horror movie to start the song, and then the song begins and mixes perfectly a hard rock sound with a more melodic punk sound! Then the best chorus on the whole album comes in, and is as catchy as a cold and features a cool tempo change by Davey. Possibly the best song on the album along with They Call Us Death and Blood of the Wolf! Bass work is absolutely fantastic by Jimmy in this song, possibly his best work on the whole album!

Loveless God is the perfect way to close the album! The song is very hard hitting with Davey's drums leading the song and Bobby's guitar work taking the song to the next level! The song features some very innovative guitar work by Bobby and some tempo changes like we have never seen Calabrese do before! Bobby unleashes some amazing leads and solos in the song and then finishes it all off with some dark and heavy riffs and along with Jimmys bass and Daveys drums they end the song like a grand finale at a fireworks show! Then around the 13 minute mark, we get to hear a "secret message" by the guys and it is funny and playful as usual!

So, overall this album is a home run as far as I am concerned! I really welcome the musical progression the guys are showing, especially Bobby who is really coming into his own as a guitarist! Vocally we all know Jimmy and Bobby can sing and croon with the best of em'! Davey's screams, although sparse, are a very welcome change, and I loved them when they were used on the album so much that I wish they would use them a lot more often! This is a great album that is very consistent from start to finish with no weak songs on the whole album! I think the album is probably Calabreses best yet and can't wait to see these guys live sometime soon! Keep on punk rocking Calabrese!

Calabrese has always been my favorite Horror Rock band but this CD tested the limits of my love for them, then it reaffirmed why I love them so much! At first listen, a Calabrese fan who knows all the lyrics to their first 2 CD's (such as myself) and cannot have a Halloween without them would think this a good album, but the songs just don't grab you like the first 2 CD's. After the second listen, I knew I was going to end up loving it, and on third listen, each song was more and more badass.

This is now my favorite Calabrese album. I can sing along to each song after listening to the thing probably 20 times through. They've outdone themselves. Good job again, boys! I'll be here faithfully when you release Calabrese IV. Until then, BOOK MORE PHOENIX SHOWS!! :)

The third offering from Calabrese is, for me, brilliant!
Some of the songs are a bit harder but the formula remains the same, fun songs with sing along parts and horror. Don't think harder means Walk Among Us vs. Earth A.D., this album is not a complete change of direction for the band. A week hasn't gone by since the album came out that I haven't listened to some part of it (fair to mention almost the same can be said about the previous release). You can hear some of the offerings on youtube, and on the official channel you even get to see the band's short films (funny stuff) (search for Horror Rock).

The band got better and so now your money is even better spent! Get to spending!