Episode 14 of ‘Apologies, it’s late’ and it is a whopper.
The Callous Daoboys is a band that I have heard of but never listened to, a band that has garnered significant acclaim but I never sought out. It’s a situation that has just been rectified. The album itself represents a period or a snapshot as Carson Place calls it, of what Carson is as a person. This is paraphrased from an online source and whilst is lazy from me to do so it felt that it was a suitable introduction to the album itself. What I did do was to avoid listening to any other CD material prior to this, I didn’t want the experience to be tainted in any way.
The opening narrative of I. Collection Of Forgotten Dreams, dressed up as an historical artefact tells you exactly where these songs are coming from. It is a true set up, an introduction that has a specific role rather than a collection of noise. Schizophrenic Legacy just explodes, and then changes tack going from extreme vocals and super heavy arrangements into something that reminds me of bands like Fall Out Boy, that earnest clean singing style. The song lives up to its title as it lurches from one place to another and when it goes into that super-heavy territory it is crushing. I’ve no idea what you would class this as, I really don’t. It goes where it feels it needs to and makes no apologies for doing so. The guitar tone is massive, the arrangements complex.
Full Moon Guidance is huge and doesn’t rely on one way of expression in the same way as Schizophrenic Legacy, throwing in changes as it pleases. It goes from full rager into a singing passage and suddenly it dawns on me that trying to go through each song in this way is going to be a thankless task. What we have is two songs that over the course of 8 minutes change direction in a way that shouldn’t work and does.
The opening narrative of I. Collection Of Forgotten Dreams, dressed up as an historical artefact tells you exactly where these songs are coming from. It is a true set up, an introduction that has a specific role rather than a collection of noise. Schizophrenic Legacy just explodes, and then changes tack going from extreme vocals and super heavy arrangements into something that reminds me of bands like Fall Out Boy, that earnest clean singing style. The song lives up to its title as it lurches from one place to another and when it goes into that super-heavy territory it is crushing. I’ve no idea what you would class this as, I really don’t. It goes where it feels it needs to and makes no apologies for doing so. The guitar tone is massive, the arrangements complex.
Full Moon Guidance is huge and doesn’t rely on one way of expression in the same way as Schizophrenic Legacy, throwing in changes as it pleases. It goes from full rager into a singing passage and suddenly it dawns on me that trying to go through each song in this way is going to be a thankless task. What we have is two songs that over the course of 8 minutes change direction in a way that shouldn’t work and does.
Going out on a limb, I don’t care for the clean singing and I guess it’s a generational thing but putting that to one side you can hear that it’s done in a way that does not affect the way in which either song flows. Its seamless, absolutely seamless. When they go heavy, such as the opening bars on Two-Headed Trout its incredibly heavy and yet they move it in a way so that it becomes a tune that you just can’t shake off. It’s the sort of song that gives you a mental image of them playing it live, you can imagine it moving within the quieter parts into the louder and the crowd just taking off. Its effortless.
Speaking of taking off, Tears On Lambo Leather is an assault, providing heavy riffs and a punishing arrangement that a lot of death metal bands would give their arms for and Lemon subverts again bringing a dance element to proceedings and on to Body Horror For Birds which pulls back into a more reflective zone. And yet, the songs are still well done and fully realised. It’s these moments that set them apart from everybody else but for me I’m drawn more into those songs like The Demon Of Unreality Limping Like A Dog and Idiot Temptation Force where its chaotic, unhinged almost but incredibly heavy with riffs zooming in and out, pummelling you as they plot their course from start to finish.
Speaking of taking off, Tears On Lambo Leather is an assault, providing heavy riffs and a punishing arrangement that a lot of death metal bands would give their arms for and Lemon subverts again bringing a dance element to proceedings and on to Body Horror For Birds which pulls back into a more reflective zone. And yet, the songs are still well done and fully realised. It’s these moments that set them apart from everybody else but for me I’m drawn more into those songs like The Demon Of Unreality Limping Like A Dog and Idiot Temptation Force where its chaotic, unhinged almost but incredibly heavy with riffs zooming in and out, pummelling you as they plot their course from start to finish.
Is there a point for me to comment on every song? Maybe not but in order to absorb the scope and breadth of this I have to.
Douchebag Safari turns on a penny, from soft to the extreme, and I guarantee that you will need multiple listens to pick up on the little things in each song that makes them so much better than anybody else. Distracted By The Mona Lisa brings that stop / start theme back once more and has that kind of build that would have seen it on multiple repeats on the music tv channel of choice. II. Opt Out is barely a track before they bring in III. Country Song In Reverse which after a languid start it detonates, into a frenzied and unhinged closing chapter. It hoovers up everything they do on here – the massive riffs, the hooks and hammers them into a 12-minute closing statement. It draws you in and then pins your ears into place.
There are parts of this that I do not get on with which is primarily a me thing. For example, the cleaner singing style reminds me of metalcore bands from the early 2010’s and I didn’t like them then and I still don’t like them now. Putting that to one side and in all honesty realising that it is music that is probably not aimed at 50-year-olds, it makes you appreciate it for the force of nature that it is.
There are parts of this that I do not get on with which is primarily a me thing. For example, the cleaner singing style reminds me of metalcore bands from the early 2010’s and I didn’t like them then and I still don’t like them now. Putting that to one side and in all honesty realising that it is music that is probably not aimed at 50-year-olds, it makes you appreciate it for the force of nature that it is.
Other bands across a number of different genres would love to be able to write songs like this. The way that they touch down in so many different themes and making them sound natural is something else. I think that we have a strong, no very strong contender for album of the year. In terms of giving it a score, I could do that from the perspective that its not ‘Thrash/Death’ and complain bitterly about it. I won’t because the whole point of extreme music is that your parents are not supposed to like it. 10/10
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