CALLENISH CIRCLE from Holland were in the early / mid 1990s and after their debut for Hammerheart Recs. they released a mini CD called “Escape” for Painkiller Recs. – finally “Graceful…” came out on DSFA (Benelux) and now it’s being licensed for the rest of Europe by Edgerunner with the mini CD as bonus. “Graceful…” was produced by GOD DETHRONED’s Henri Sattler and Bertus Westerhuis (GOD DETHRONED, ALTAR, etc.). Therefore, this one has quite a good sound. CALLENISH CIRCLE’s style is a bastard: Swedeath, Black, Thrash and even Classic Heavy Metal sounds are combined skillfully and most of the songs are actually really cool. Unfortunately there are not many bands that record 70 minutes of music on an equally strong level. The same is true with this release. My CALLENISH CIRCLE hate song is called ‘Broken’ (also a track on “Escape” and therefore twice on this CD): it features such a simple melody almost throughout the whole song which starts getting on one’s nerves after about 10 seconds, making it almost impossible not to skip the track. But the rest of the album is fine, kind of tame, sometimes furious – all in all an album worth checking out in case you’re open minded (no clear vocals, though).