Callisto

There’s lots of talk these days about shoegazing metal bands, or bands listing Mogwai as an influence, meandering through another set of songs everyone will forget in three years. But, as with any sub-genre, a few gems are going to shine through. Enter Finland’s Callisto, who impressed the heck out of me with their 2004 Earache Records debut, True Nature Unfolds. With Noir, they go even further away from the genre’s usual loud-quiet Neurosis dynamics and add in some brass instruments and moodier, angular passages. Check out "A Close Encounter” for a reminder that while sometimes tambourines and glockenspiels have no place in metal, at others they sound perfect. "Pathos” got my head banging harder than any band in a long time and "Folkslave” goes big, real big. These guys may not have a hipster following but they’ve get more goods than a lot of their North American counterparts.