EP REVIEW: The Callous Daoboys – God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys

The Callous Daoboys are a collective of musical geniuses. ‘God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys’ sounds so unlike anything else out there

Author’s Note: Catch-Up Week Day 3! Finally back on track with this new EP review, as we check a couple of releases from earlier this year I originally missed! – Ryan

Bossa nova beats collide with electric hyper pop and EDM, before plunging into a breakdown that would make deathcore fanatics weep. There’s no one else it could be except The Callous Daoboys.

Mathcore revolutionaries The Callous Daoboys have been a hot topic in the metal scene for quite some time now. Following their utterly riotous sophomore effort ‘Celebrity Therapist’, the band have exploded in popularity, seeing them truly beginning to break out of the USA. It’s impossible not to see why; their complete disregard for musical rules, their superb musical performances, and their swaggering charisma all build to form a band that refuses to be ignored.

Earlier this year, the band releases a three-track EP entitled ‘God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys’, and in doing so, provided what is arguably their strongest collection of tracks to date, which truly is saying something. Every element of this band feels at its most fleshed out and energised on this incredible disregard for convention. 

‘Waco Jesus’ exists as the most straightforward of the three tracks, with huge verses buoyed by sludgy riffs, crashing up against immense chorus segments that summon some surprisingly dark yet catchy melodies. On top of that, The Callous Daoboys deliver some of their finest lyricism to date, maintaining their eccentric and abstract ways, but hitting us with bars such as ‘Heavenly, her curves should be “Art History”/Magdalene worshipped by my saviour.’

The other two tracks here, however, are wild, hurtling trips through time and space. As alluded to in the opening paragraph, ‘Pushing the Pink Envelope’ is a chaotic yet brilliantly executed beast, with an ever-changing, ever-evolving sound that refuses to settle on anything boring. 

That progressive nature is ramped up even further on song of the year contender ‘Designer Shroud of Turin’. Carson Pace has never sounded better, with an insane vocal versatility that only comes with perhaps a deal with the devil; the screams, the lows, the cleans, all of it sounds phenomenal. On top of that, we are treated to a killer feature from fellow genre-benders pulses., who deliver a fantastic verse atop wailing jazzy saxophones. Nothing about any of this should work, and that’s what makes it so bloody brilliant.

It’s a bold claim, but I’m willing to defend it to the bitter end; The Callous Daoboys are a collective of musical geniuses. ‘God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys’ sounds so unlike anything else out there, delivering ideas that few are brave enough to even explore, let alone attempt. Music that shows the futility of labels is music you have to love.

RATING: 87/100 – Mostly Excellent

For Fans Of: pulses., Dreamwell, Paledusk, Ithaca, Periphery

Physical copies of this record are available here.

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Spotify // Twitter