Callisto

Much like the death metal explosion of the early ’90s, the atmospheric post-rock of Isis is now garnering countless imitators. Finland’s Callisto are certainly amongst the guilty, though they choose to distinguish themselves by exploring the quieter side of the subgenre. Their third full-length, Noir tracks the band’s changes since their Earache-licensed True Nature Unfolds in 2005, and now they’ve become a perfect melding of Isis and Dark Side of the Moon-era Pink Floyd, with saxophone. "Wormwood” sounds like Transmission0 covering the Philistines Jr., with a tinkling glockenspiel in the background, while "Latterday Saints” climaxes twice like Boston’s Disappearer. Though the Katatonia-like "The Fugitive” and the Anathema-ish "Pathos” brandish guitarist Markus Myllykangas’s controlled growls, the band invoke King Crimson in two turns: "A Close Encounter,” with its "I Talk to the Wind”-style flute, and "Woven Hands,” with its Starless and Bible Black-like English horn. The subdued nature of Noir, which is much less aggressive than Neurosis’s direct kin, makes Callisto a prominent choice for introspective metal. (Fullsteam)