The definition of Kairos is a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action, the opportune and decisive moment. Well it seems that Calamity have taken this definition seriously with the release of their second album “Kairos”.
A bit of research showed that, in a previous life, Calamity were a Metallica cover’s band which would have provided them with a decent enough background in song and melody construction, but in saying that though, these Puerto Rican Thrashers have now released an album that, even though it pays homage to all things great about Thrash’s true spirit, it is all served up with their own twist on these classic elements.
Yes, it has snappy chainsaw riffs with nice and heavy double kicks on the skins and yes its vocally clean with catchy arrangements and all the while serving up some heady riffs and hooks but there’s more that. There’s also, tempo and melody changes galore and this combined with some kick arse show off lead breaks and some excellent production, lands this album above the usual mire of ho hum-edness.
There’s some classic Thrash tracks like “Killer Vibes”, “Overruled” and ”The Change” to throw your neck joints out and then there’s some speed tracks like “Guerreros” which is all in Spanish, ”Still We Live” and ”The Truth”, which is a mixture of English and Spanish, to play along with your air guitar but don’t forget the anthemic and ballardy “El Vacio” for those that love a good singalong in the car or at a party with friends belting out the chorus with lighters held high and you know what, I doesn’t even matter if you don’t understand or speak Spanish, just belt those tunes right out there.
Does “Kairos” give us anything new, probably not, but it is a solid album, and from where I’m sitting Calamity could well be real sleepers in the Thrash scene, so keep following them because I reckon there will be a classic album to come from these guys in the not to distant future.
Rating – 4/5
Go get some!
The Metal Wanderlust 