If there is a phrase that tends to put my hackles on end, my blood boil and my temper enter a different stratosphere it’s when people talk about musical creativity as a “journey” but, in the case of Finland’s post metal outfit Callisto, I can’t think of a more apposite word to describe their moves from hardcore proficiency to the critically lauded outpost of post-metal.
Secret Youth is the band’s fourth full length album (their first on Svart Records) and the first new material since the progressive delights of Providence back in 2009. Six years is almost the equivalent of six lifetimes in the ever changing world of the music business so whilst there isn’t anything remotely approaching “pressure” on Callisto, a lengthy absence tends to lead to speculation about whether you’ve still “got it”.
Relax, kids. They have. And then some.
Secret Youth feels like the sum total of the band’s dozen or so years of accumulated musical knowledge and prowess blended into one record of power, precision and infectious abrasiveness. The first thing that strikes you about the album is just how accomplished it all is – there is a greater level of ambition in the songs that they have created, a readiness to explore different approaches, textures and melodies. Secret Youth also has moments of sublime anger and ferocity, so don’t think that just because they have found melodies and tunes that they have lost any of their inherent aggression; if anything, they have simply become more discerning with when and how they use it.
Opening track ‘Pale Pretender’ is dynamic and pulsating, building a sense of impending menace and doom. Vocalist Jani-Ani Hukkala sounds like he has taken lessons from Interpol’s Paul Banks which, as any fule kno, is a very good thing indeed. Lead-off single ‘Backbone’ consolidates the sense of unease and the arrival of the first guttural howls. This exceptional blend of haunting melodies, pained lyricism and outright ferocity is probably what you’re looking for with Callisto and, make no mistake, it is here in abundance. ‘Acts’ slows the pace a bit, all noir-ish melody and disjointed guitar parts before ‘The Dead Layer’ delivers gloomy atmospherics and poignant ambience.
The second half of the record is equally impressive with the band offering a balanced shift between intensive aggression and more introspection and reflective pieces. As I’m writing this I can immediately sense that this blending of style, in lesser hands, might not really work but as with some of modern heavy music’s best – think of Opeth, Cult of Luna, Katatonia – the effect here is never any less than impressive and, at times, it’s downright brilliant.
Many bands come straight out the traps with the essence of who they are almost immediately; for others, it’s more of a slow burn. With Callisto, we seem to have waited a long time to arrive at the purest distillation of what they are about but with Secret Youth, they have achieved it. If you want to give anyone a perfect example of what this weird thing called post-metal is all about, then you could do far, far worse than play them this. They will thank you and then, in turn, you can thank me. In a word: fabulous.
8.5/10
MAT DAVIES
