Once again CALLENISH CIRCLE from Holland have turned into a darker and heavier act. The new album “My Passion // Your Pain” is faster, and grooves better. There are blasts like the initial one on ‘Dwelling In Disdain’ where the band shows they could easily compete with the most brutal bands on earth in terms of speed and precision but only seconds later they seem to tell you: “… but we won’t!” as the next moment shows their groovy, melodic side. Apart from that the band sounds like a better unit and the drumming is quite impressive. Pat’s singing has become better as well – probably the touring has helped the band’s development a lot. This is what modern melodic Death Metal should sound like today. Although there are a few futuristic sound effects, the band doesn’t follow IN FLAMES and their rather disappointing latest album – which I never understood – and they never sounded much like old IN FLAMES anyway. Within their cosmos of melodic SweDeath they have found a place of their own. So if you ask me if we need this particular band among millions of other melodic ones, my answer is: definitely yes! They won’t re-invent the steel but that’s not what I want them to do. In case you’re into that style there is no reason to ignore CALLENISH CIRCLE any longer. If I remember correctly they will be on tour with EXODUS, NUCLEAR ASSAULT and AGENT STEEL in autumn, so don’t miss that one!