Kalibas

The Rune/Kalibas split CD on Relapse is still smoking and smothering many months after its release, and now New York's Kalibas have followed up their material with this great five-song EP. The band play a fairly crushing death/grind hybrid that throws attacks of technical abandon upon the listener just when it seems like things are getting into generic guttural death metal turf. In a way, the brevity of the EP is a bonus, as this is relentless and powerful music — 15 minutes works just fine, managing to energise instead of drain. The lyrics seem to have some thought put into them too, and the artwork and production is all top-notch (Willowtip seems poised to be the next Hydra Head). Kalibas are a forward-thinking beast indeed, melding brains with aggression, math with physical education, like a more death metal Burnt by the Sun, which is a good prospect indeed.