Anyone searching for the gap between brutal and
melodic death metal, I believe you will succeed with Callenish
Circle. This quintet formed in 1992 from The Netherlands and have unleashed
their 5th and possibly, strongest effort to date: Pitch.Black.Effects. Although,
it appears they are starting to cling to the new melodic Gothenburg sound
a bit. Certainly the old-school death elements are there along with a Dark
Tranquillity similarity, but to me there is too much sampling on this release.
Sure this may be their strongest musical release, but the samples have sorta
taken the place of the acoustic parts to an extent. Even though they are
still blatantly there, they seem less potent. Aside from a newer approach,
P.B.E. retains much of the same essence that is Callenish Circle. The crunch
is heavier, the melodies are faster and the complexity is still hangin'
in there. There are 10 tracks / 43 minutes of music and for the lucky ones...
a DVD featuring a studio report of this album, a LIVE filming of their Tilberg
(Netherlands) show, and some festival feedback. A nice album with a nice
package. This is a little closer to average than I was expecting, but good
nonetheless...
Rating: 80
Reviewed By: Thomas Mitchell |
