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Angry Metal Guy<a href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/caballero-caballero-review/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Caballero – Caballero Review</a>By El CuervoAlbum concepts can be tricky territory. Especially those based on historical events where accuracy is a pre-requisite. Especially debut albums, where a band is also figuring out their sound. And especially those produced by guys from Finland about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. The self-titled Caballero by Caballero is just such an album, representing an enthusiast’s exploration of warfare, death, and cult heavy metal bands from the 80s. Is it a match made in the thirteen heavens or in the Nine Hells?Caballero is the sort of band that I’d love to experience live. It’s easy to imagine they’d be loads of fun because their recording sounds splashy, energetic, and lively. Caballero executes this sound through a lo-fi approach to speedy heavy metal. It has a production aesthetic that evokes a serrated knife; the riffs cut with a sharp edge, but the overall package has an imperfect roughness. Robust guitars orient around headbangable grooves rather than masturbatory solos, and I enjoy the touches of speed metal when the rhythms shift up a gear; its theatricality belies skilled instrumentalists. The back halves on “Mortally Wounded, Counting the Galaxies” and “The Lord of the Day and the Winds” exemplify these elements, running through raucous leads and frantic energy. The music isn’t the best or most innovative heavy metal ever produced, but has grit and personality. Caballero’s 37-minute runtime passes rapidly.Undermining these qualities, however, are the just-about-tolerable vocals. I admire the effort thrown into the half-sung and half-shouted style, but they rarely hit the notes or power they target. Caballero relies on reverb to confer a thicker tone and greater gravitas they would otherwise lack, but even these can’t overcome a majority that grounds a release that nearly takes flight into something special. If the guitars have an energizing effect, the vocals have the inverse effect. The singing actively detracts from passages like the first heavy part on “The Moor-Slayer”; a grinding, stomping lead is frustrated by shouts that sound out of key. And while I like the marching passage on “La Noche Triste,” especially the layer of shredding guitars, the harmonized chants are extraneous and weak. The vocals are an obvious instrumental weakness when compared with the sharp guitars.Caballero features a consistency that works in two ways. The first is how the band bridges the riffs and solos in smart ways. “Sorcery Above the Lake of the Water-Dog” is stuffed full of great leads that won’t just get you moving but are also surprisingly technical. The way this track transitions between passages belongs to a 4.0 album, especially as the solo grows naturally out of the noodling preceding lead. The second is a consistency that flows from songwriting that struggles to clearly distinguish tracks. Most unfold in a way that’s largely enjoyable, but they sound more like a collection of riffs stitched together than they do structured songs. This robs some of the satisfaction I typically glean through cohesion. Without strong vocals or vocal melodies, there isn’t a clear delineation between verses, choruses and tracks.Some albums score in the 2.0-3.0 range because they’re middling releases that fail to stand out from the crowd. Caballero falls into this range because while they have obvious weaknesses, they also boast great advantages. Caballero is far from perfect, but its riffs and sheer entertainment value largely outweigh the imperfections. It’s a robust marker of a young band in ascendancy, so I’ll track their development with interest. Rating: 3.0/5.0 DR: 11 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3 Label: <a href="https://www.gatesofhellrecords.com/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gates of Hell Records</a> Website: <a href="https://caballerometal.bandcamp.com/album/caballero" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">caballero.bandcamp.com</a> Releases Worldwide: March 7th, 2025<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/2025/" target="_blank">#2025</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/30/" target="_blank">#30</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/caballero/" target="_blank">#Caballero</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/finnish-metal/" target="_blank">#FinnishMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/gates-of-hell-records/" target="_blank">#GatesOfHellRecords</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/heavy-metal/" target="_blank">#HeavyMetal</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/mar25/" target="_blank">#Mar25</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/review/" target="_blank">#Review</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/reviews/" target="_blank">#Reviews</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/speed-metal/" target="_blank">#SpeedMetal</a>

Shardik MediaFinland’s Caballero bring forth their self-titled debut power metal album. Review at FFR, <a href="https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2025/03/05/caballero-caballero-gates-of-hell-2025/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2025/03/05/caballero-caballero-gates-of-hell-2025/</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/metal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#metal</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/heavymetal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#heavymetal</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/rock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#rock</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/hardrock" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#hardrock</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Caballero" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Caballero</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Finland" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Finland</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/GatesOfHellRecords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GatesOfHellRecords</a> <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/powermetal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#powermetal</a>

wiulinuLadegerät abgemacht, die 450er aus der Garage geschoben, Start gedrückt und mit einem freundlich knatterigen brummbrumm vom einzylinder begrüßt worden 😀 <a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/motorradfahrer" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@motorradfahrer</a> <a href="https://23.social/tags/fantic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#fantic</a> <a href="https://23.social/tags/caballero" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#caballero</a>

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