Much like the Atlanta band’s name is a mocking twist on the Dallas Cowboys, their take on metalcore is a mocking twist on the genre. Normally this sort of thing is not my personal taste, and I write it off as MySpace metal, however these guys have perverted in such a manner that it appeals to me. They are aggressive yet highly skilled in the mathematics of their contorted riffing.
It is their darker, more introspective lapses into melody that hook my ears in and made me a fan of last year’s Celebrity Therapist album that I got quite a bit of mileage out of. It chronicled the band growing more focused as songwriters, but not medicating the mania out of the songs. This EP, God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys (MNRK Heavy / Modern Static) which is whetting my appetite for another, finds the three songs presented as being a further refinement.
“Waco Jesus” finds the band returning to the dark introspective place I mentioned earlier and giving me the most replay value. It bursts with both groove and melody, making more sense why the band has referred to themselves as nu-metal, though Glassjaw is the only band from that scene I hear any real influence from. Carson Pace’s voice continues to add more colors. The opening track “Pushing the Pink Envelope” starts off pounding the pavement with a Hardcore breakdown feel that Pace screams frantically over. Then just over a minute in, they begin to take Mr. Bungle-like turns into weirdness. There are flourishes of electronic noise leading into melodies that would not be out of place on an At The Drive In album. The kind of jarring affair that should find this band filling The Dillinger Escape Plan sized-void at rock festivals next year.
“Designer Shroud of Turin ” taps into the kind of infectious hooks I want from these crazy kids. This takes turns into both the more Rap-Rock spirit of Nu-Metal and Jazz at the same time. There are even episodes of music so odd it defies classification. They do linger on a soulful loungy interlude long enough for it to become a mood you are jerked from by the staccato guitars and screaming. They return to the more poppy vocal hook, which is something I am glad to hear more of from them, as it’s too good for their ADHD to forget about reintroducing.
Sure there are some modern day metalcore tropes toyed with here, but it is in the sugary chaos that this band finds themselves and continues to perfect who they are, making me look forward to where they are going from here.
The only thing I do not like about this release is that it’s an EP rather than another full length, but this is understandable since kids these days have such a short attention span that if a band is not always providing some sort of stimulus they are out of sight and out mind, and obscurity could be a click away. Fans of the band eager to take what they can get will find this hits all the right neural pathways.
Buy the album here:
https://thecallousdaoboys.bandcamp.com/album/god-smiles-upon-the-callous-daoboys
9 / 10
WIL CIFER