Calibretto

Calibretto: Dead By DawnDead By Dawn (2003)
Standard Recording Co.

Reviewer Rating: 3

Contributed by: adamAdam
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on July 22nd 2003In 1987 Konami released their top selling "Castlevania." You were Simon Belmont, a pixelated 8-bit character who adventured through side scrolling castles as you chopped and whipped your way to the ultimate confrontation with Count Dracula. Like most early Nintendo games, Castlevania featured a wond.

In 1987 Konami released their top selling "Castlevania." You were Simon Belmont, a pixelated 8-bit character who adventured through side scrolling castles as you chopped and whipped your way to the ultimate confrontation with Count Dracula. Like most early Nintendo games, Castlevania featured a wonderful MIDI soundtrack. Better than most, the programmers tried their hardest to make the tonal MIDI synth noises imitate campy horror movie organs.

Calibretto must have played their fair share of Castlevania.

Unfortunately I can't seem to tell if the band wants me to take them seriously or not. Calibretto's sound lies somewhere between less aggressive psychobilly and the organ driven Castlevania soundtrack. Throw a fairly clean sounding acoustic guitar into the mix with some b-horror influenced vocals and you've got "Dead By Dawn."

In some cases the band's sound works perfectly. The instrumental lead track "Come See The Meatboy" gallops in with a catchy rockabilly shuffle. This leads into the swirling organ work of "Bleeding On The Floor." However as soon as the vocals kick in I loose track of the band's overall purpose. Are they mocking the silly horror of Lovecraft obsessed psychobilly acts or are they embracing it? Christopher's voice has a hint of irony that never really lets up over the course of the record. One has to assume that the band's taken an "all in good fun" approach to their subject matter, which with the style they're playing takes away from the "darkness" they're trying to convey.

Regardless of motive, this is a pretty fun EP. The semi-acoustic rawness of a few tracks sounds a bit too close to Against Me worship, but that's forgivable. Calibretto could go far with this sound if they only took themselves seriously, but this isn't a bad start.

Login to rate this album

People who liked this also liked:

Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?

Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (July 18, 2004)

They are awesome on this.I am big fan.Dude Joe would get mad if you called him Joseph lol Chris plays drums and talks alot at show.heres a bit of info Calibretto soon to be Harley poe album comes out in August Its called in the dark.Everyone by it its the best yet,they have 2 songs you can download at american record company check it out

Anonymous (February 27, 2004)

Yes, they were once Calibretto 13, and if they want to change their name or their image, then they have the right to do that. They're CD rocks, and they're the best thing to come out of Kokomo, IN in god knows how long... I should know, I live there. The singer is Joseph, he has dark hair and glasses, and he works at Books-A-Million at Markland Mall... he and my boyfriend talk sometimes... anyway, they can change their name if they want, and yes, they did switch labels... all the info is on their website.

Anonymous (December 23, 2003)

lead singers name is chris isnt it? i thought he played guitar and harmonica...oh unless they did do a lineup change...then that would just suck..

Anonymous (September 22, 2003)

Perhaps you should stop playig Nintendo games before you write reviews.

Anyway, the ep is very cool and they are fan-bloody-tastic live band.

Anonymous (July 29, 2003)

The lead singer's name is not Christopher. It's Joeseph. Do your homeowrk before making an ass of yourself

Anonymous (July 24, 2003)

Hey its thefirstfive being lazy. They dropped the 13 because they realised they couldn't bew sued by the creater of the battle chasers comic book because of the way copyright laws work. Thanks. Also they're been around for years and Against me! just blew up. Thanks..

Anonymous (July 24, 2003)

This is not quite the same band as Calibretto 13. They dropped the number for multiple reasons, some of them being: a new musical as well as lyrical direction for the band, a slightly new lineup, and a new label. They just wanted to signify a change, and they did it by dropping the number. You should really go to one of their live shows, too. They're pretty impressive and alot of fun. Word.

adam (July 24, 2003)

bluetunehead: you're probably right, I had no idea this band had any prior history. Their press release makes no mention of their past as a band.

bluetunehead (July 24, 2003)

shindo thats obviously a good point and true in many cases but with calibretto their old cd's have the same acoustic punk thing going on. it's nothing new for them. just a new label and a missing numeral.

501 (July 23, 2003)

Bad review, good cd. Bad review.

adam (July 23, 2003)

bluetunehead: just because a band has been around for a few years dosen't mean they're not influenced by what they hear after they form.

bluetunehead (July 23, 2003)

"The semi-acoustic rawness of a few tracks sounds a bit too close to Against Me worship, but that's forgivable. Calibretto could go far with this sound if they only took themselves seriously, but this isn't a bad start."

except that calibretto (13) isn't a new band and they've put out a couple of albums already. they aren't worshiping against me!

i do find it weird that they don't mention their old stuff on their website, but calibretto13.com is still the address so it's not like they are hiding it.

Anonymous (July 23, 2003)

is this really calibretto13? if it is, it's kinda crappy of them not to admit it. i mean, on their webpage www.calibretto.com they don't even mention that they were once calibretto 13, and their discography only has this new cd. that's shoddy. that or scott was being sarcastic and i'm dumb

Anonymous (July 23, 2003)

a big ten goes out to adam and those sweet MIDI castlevania tunes. play the PS1 castlevania "symphony of the night" guys, it's that fuckin sweet.

Ramo

maverick (July 22, 2003)

Yup, and they had a "13" in their name then, as well.

This EP's okay, but sounds a bit too much like the Violent Femmes for me. I'd rather just listen to "Add It Up."

-Scott

funkisdead (July 22, 2003)

Hm.
Weren't they on tooth and nail a while ago?