[Pitch.Black.Effects]

2005 saw the beginning of the end of dutch melodeath band Callenish Circle, as [Pitch.Black.Effects] would end up their last recorded offering. They wouldn’t disband until 2007, and that would allow them to tour profusely before calling it quits. They even crossed the pond and came over to my hometown Guadalajara as part of their Mexican tour, but I was unluckily unable to attend the gig, a misfortune I regret to this very day, for the dutch band was, and still is, one of my favorite acts of the melodic death metal genre. According to some lucky bastards who saw them that night, they fucking owned live, something I’ll never know for sure. What I know for sure, is that this, their last album, is a slight disillusion and step back in quality compared to their previous, flawless masterpiece, My Passion // Your Pain.

It is worth mentioning that this album boasts the best production values in this band’s career. It’s marginally meatier yet at the same time clearer than its predecessor, which by no means had a mediocre production. Consequently, Pat’s vocals really shine on this one, from his deranged and passionate melodeath rasps to his deeper growls and even his whispers are clearly and loudly heard. Also the drums and bass have a thicker tone, becoming more prominent here, though they’re less engaging musically speaking. Actually, what this album gained in production, it loses in riff quality and overall musical delivery. Unlike on their past two records, CC’s riffwork feels pretty average here, the song structures fairly standard and commonplace. There’s even an obnoxious groove metal feel permeating the otherwise unadulterated melodeath style of the band and many songs display unimpressive mid-tempo chugging riffs.

However not everything is lost, and there a several songs here that deliver the goods, making this album interesting enough. The one-two punch combo of opener “This Day You Regret” and the subsequent “Ignorant” is pretty effective, if not mindblowing, delving into the brand of electronic tinged melodeath these guys used to produce. Track number four, “Schwarzes Licht” continues the tradition of previous albums as a calmer, almost-ballad song, yet this one is fairly interesting with its darkwave aesthetics and soothing females vocals. Then, another slab of concrete solid melodeath is thrown at us in “Sweet Cyanide”, musically not far from the excellence found on their past couple of albums and probably the strongest track here. After that one though, the albums looses most of its punch, and only sporadic moments of grandeur appear here and there within the majority of songs. There won’t be any good surprises to be found, and the taciturn instrumental closer “Pitch Black” confirms us that the album’s over, as well as this band’s contribution to our beloved metallic world.

If it weren’t for the mentioned songs, and the fact that while speaking of this band my opinion might be slightly biased, I’d say [Pitch.Black.Effects] is almost a harmless and mediocre release. Yet I find that there’s stuff in this mixed bag worthy of being listened to, despite being in a lower level of quality compared to Callenish Circle’s previous two offerings, filled with highly energetic and compelling melodic death metal. This, their fifth and final album, is not the strongest way of saying farewell for this band, certainly not what I would had expected or desired, yet it is what it is. For the melodeath fan, there’re simple many better options out there to explode one’s eardrums. For the Callenish Circle fan, the same can be said. The circle has been completed.

...but have we already seen the rise and fall of Callenish Circle?

A newcomer to Callenish Circle, if described their sound, might well be dubious, especially if said newcomer was already more than a little jaded with the whole Gothernburg and melodeath thing. Hell, who isn't? The Circle play very simple melodic death, more or less at a single pace for the duration of an entire album, and that pace is... medium. No slow stuff here, and almost no fast stuff. Just a pleasant pedestrian plod (nice anthropomorphic alliteration there, if I do say so myself.) Furthermore, the vast majority of the song materials here are constructed from a base of rhythm guitar that exactly follows the medium pace of the drumming. Even the vocals follow this beat to the letter. The only things that really break the mould here in terms of speed are the decent melodic soloing and the odd centrally thematic riff that straddles across beats, creating a definite groove.

Surprisingly, this approach fucking works. Unsurprisingly, after three albums of said approach, things start to get a little stale. I do emphasize 'a little', because there is plenty on this record for the average melodeath fan to sink their teeth into, and it isn't as if the Circle are writing exactly the same album because they aren't. One positive aspect here (and here I strongly disagree with the previous reviewer) is the electronics. They have made extremely limited use of them in the past, and while it is arguable that electronics on a melodeath album is a very yawn-inducing proposition, Callenish Circle somehow introduce a substantial amount of them here without sounding generic or conceited. We have odd melodic synths and fuzzed-out electronic beats opening at least half of the tracks here, and, it seems, replacing the soft, introductory clean guitar work that characterized some of the more explorative songs on previous albums. They don't sound imitative of any contemporaries, impressively, and entirely succeed in adding a welcome depth to the melodic scope and expression of the album as a whole. I suspect that if it wasn't for this ultimately simple addition to their overall sound, Pitch Black Effects would have come across as much more tepid than it currently does.

As i've noted with a number of sequels-to-great-albums-by-other-bands reviews, there is a general drop in riff and melody quality here, as compared to previous work. While their comfortable, midpaced songwriting is perpetually rhythmic and very flexible to freestyling; layered leads; extended riffs; advanced syncopated grooves; they fail to take advantage of the open canvas their base sound truly allows. If My Passion // Your Pain was a diverse and fully realised exploration of that, Pitch Black Effects is its eroded and less-than-prodigal progeny. Indeed, when compared back to back, it is actually quite surprising how thoroughly reserved Pitch Black Effects really is; there are precious few moments that will get anyone headbanging with enthusiasm, or fists pumping in the air with the joyful recognition of genius. What we're left with is a reliably solid -Callenish Circle are at least that- but altogether unexceptional affair. By itself, it is admittedly a good record. Not boundary breaking, but fun and interesting enough to listen to. In the face of previous work however, it is hard to imagine their best days are still ahead of them.