Belgium. The sole name of this country brings to mind bands such as ANCIENT RITES, BLACK SHEPHERD and some other great bands. And so we have another up and coming quality act, CALIGULA, with their independent debut for 2011, “Not Too Sort To Be Great”. And man, is this a weird listen at first. There are so many things happening at once. Dubbed as a combination of AvantGarde and Thrash Metal, the band displays lots of influences. Yes, they are rooted firmly in Thrash Metal, but the addition of the keyboards playing organ, tuba, trombone and piano like sounds adds another dimension to the music. ‘Rackham The Red’ is one such tune, full of polka-folk oriented melodies, with a crazy Death Metal section thrown in. Also, ‘Per Qualche Euros In Plu’ starts off with some soft piano intro and then explodes into a mid-paced whirlwind of Thrash Metal with excellent and memorable riffing! ‘Hard Rock And Roll’ even has a Ska based verse! Is that AvantGarde enough for you all? Vocals shift from a gruff shout to a deep grunt to low chants. It’s been some time since I haven’t heard Metal that wanders around so much, surprising the listener with every song. In other words, if I dare say, refreshing. This is not Black Metal influenced music or crazy Metal / Opera combination, but a “Metal Roller coaster”. I hate comparing bands, but in this case, since CALIGULA’s music is so unique, the only band that comes to my mind is the Italian SADIST, sans evilness. Also, for an independent release, the production is perfect. All the instruments sound as they should and the mix is crystal clear, leaving no attitude aside. The albums closes with ‘The Great Super Villain’, beginning with an almost a ballad-like interlude and then going into a Swedeath influenced pounding Metal. To sum it up, this is one daring little CD that will knock your socks off! Any Metal fan should enjoy it, open minded or not, because a good album is a good album, be it Thrash, Death or AvantGarde Metal. And CALIGULA has successfully combined them all into 30 minutes of madness! So go ahead, buy their album and support a great band! Contact the band here: www.myspace.com/caligulabelgium