Callisto, one of the many, many post-metal bands that used to suffer from the main post-metal syndrome “you sound like dozens of other post bands without having any differentiation points”, have released a new album last year. It is much different from their previous material (well, Providence was the first hint at this change of direction, but it stayed firmly in post-metal waters), going to new sonic grounds, incorporating even more clean vocals and including more progressive elements.
As the band described it, Secret Youth is a “Progressive noise rock” album. And, although it doesn’t have a lot of noise elements, progressive tag fits perfectly. Songs are long, with a sludgy guitar sound similar to the one found on Cult of Luna’s Eternal Kingdom, clean vocals are emotionally filled, and have a real quality in them, perfectly in line with the music, and growls that are decent enough for a solid post-metal band. The atmosphere on the album is quite chilling and perfectly in line with lyrics, the sound of the bass guitar is exceptional, it adds terrific value to the general atmosphere, and also to the music quality as well, brilliant. The main problem with the record is its lenght, the album is just too long, some songs are borderline boring, and it is hard keeping the atention on the music from start to finish.
Dread filled Pale Pretender, Post-metal with a twist on Backbone, thumping bass and perfect signing on the Acts, or a constant rollercoaster of emotions on the last song of the album, Dam's Lair Road are enough to revive the faith in post-metal. Because this album is still mainly post-metal, but different enough to be described as something else by a vast majority of listeners. And that’s good because we need a fresh sound in this weary genre, a genre that just went downhill after diamonds brought to us by Isis and Cult of Luna. This isn’t excellent piece of music, but it’s good enough to recommend it for anyone who likes post-metal, or emotionally filled music that isn’t stuffed with cheese. Nice album for these cold winter days.
