Style: Death Doom (harsh vocals)
Review by: Evan
Country: Germany
Release date: July 16th, 2021
Unfortunately, I have to begin with a confession, one that troubles me deeply to admit: I cannot for the life of me discern what is happening on the album cover. There are so many questions and so few answers. Some sort of spell that summons water and tentacles? A plumbing job gone horribly wrong? It is anyone’s guess. Thankfully, I am not here to review art or I would be out of a job.
With my career as an art critic thoroughly dismantled, it is time to talk about the actual music. Calliophis plays the melodic and gothic style of death doom, more similar to Paradise Lost than the chunkier Autopsy style. Also worth mentioning is that Calliophis does not stray too far from other melodic death/doom bands and contains few “progressive” elements (not that this is inherently bad, just worth mentioning based on the blog’s focus). Songs are filled with clean guitar leads and classic doom riffs, the production is hardly raw, and tempos remain consistent but slow, never breaking into full death metal aggression or funeral doom slog. The vocals are fairly standard death growls, with a whisper here and there. The first word that comes to mind as one plods through each 10 minute plus track is “consistent,” and all positive and negative connotations of the word apply.
Speaking of consistency, the guitarists write good sounding leads in every track. In addition, each individual track represents a good, standard death/doom balance of the aforementioned leads and heavier riffs.
However, while the band may not struggle with writing songs or leads, far more attention should be paid to the actual riffs (especially in death/doom!) Essentially every heavy riff on the album sounds virtually identical, and are thus nearly impossible to distinguish when thinking back upon the album. Moreover, while the band has a consistently good songwriting formula, they apply it far too consistently (I am starting to hate that word), and the tracks become even harder to mentally separate from one another. The album is also bookended by its strongest tracks, whereas its midsection is in many places much harder to justify. Even more damning, the extreme focus on melodic leads diminishes the ability of the album to create atmosphere, as it often feels to be a sequence of individually well-crafted, but somewhat mismatched, melodies.
Criticism aside, this album would probably be enjoyable for fans of melodic death/doom. Nothing is particularly poorly executed, the sounds just seem to blend together by the end.
Recommended tracks: Liquid Darkness, Fratricide
Recommended for fans of: Paradise Lost, Katatonia, My Dying Bride
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Solitude Productions – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Calliophis is:
– Thomas (vocals)
– Matthias (lead guitars)
– Florian (rhythm guitars)
– Andreas (bass)
– Florian (drums)
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