CoC : Callenish Circle - Pitch.Black.Effects : Review

Callenish Circle - _Pitch.Black.Effects_
(Metal Blade, 2005)
by: Jackie Smit (8.5 out of 10)

There's a lot to be said for Callenish Circle. Criminally underrated from the day their _Drift of Empathy_ debut surfaced, they have been for the last decade one of the very few remaining bastions of creativity in the ever saturated world of melodic death metal. _Pitch.Black.Effects_, their fifth full-length, certainly doesn't go against type -- brilliantly eschewing the many clichés that others in the genre slavishly adhere to, by incorporating subtle twists to well-worn formulas that almost always seem to have a staggering effect. "Ignorant", as a perfect example, is propelled by a bass-heavy synth line that, if anything, gives the guitars an extra bit of lead in its proverbial boots, before it all gives way to a brief, but incredibly infectious sequence of clean playing. "Behind the Lines" pares up unmistakably Swedish riffing with a grinding bridge that makes every other section of the song sound that much more effective. In fact, the band's flair for experimentation only lets them down on one occasion, when "Schwarzes Licht" breaks into a pseudo-goth chant that would barely have worked on a Lacrimosa record. On the whole though, you'd go very far to hear a more incandescent example of this school of metal in 2005.

Contact: http://www.callenish-circle.com

(article published 31/10/2005)

ALBUMS
4/12/2002	D Rocher	8	Callenish Circle - Flesh_Power_Dominion
9/1/1998	P Schwarz	7	Callenish Circle - Escape