Just what was needed
Oh yes, this is what the Saturday needed. After Gorilla Monsoon brushed the cobwebs off a few festival attendees, Callenish Circle came and gave a metal fury kick where it was needed most. Class them as death metal or melodic death metal or scream core or metal core or scream death metal melodic core, in fact any of the above would suffice. Whatever they are, this Polish crew impressed this reviewer with their brand of no nonsense thrash.
The band appeared dressed in a black garb, when all of a sudden they were joined by singer Pat. Dressed in pure white from head to toe, together with bleach blonde hair, he looked more like a Bronski Beat knock off than the singer of a brutal metal band. Any disillusion on this reviewers part were soon brushed aside as he growled like a pissed off tiger. There was no room for clean singing, he was going for the throat and looked as mean as ten angry pit-bulls as he delivered each line.
There was no getting away from the fact that the band know how to pen a song. The riffs were easy to determine, their ferocity was manic without being detrimental to the performance. As my dad always says, you can't beat a good tune, and Callenish Circle seem to have plenty of them. It comes as no surprise that they are similar, musically speaking, to the likes of Children of Bodom, Soilwork and In Flames, but if you're not going to write anything suitably different, then write the best songs you can within the style you've adopted. Callenish Circle have managed to do this and, most of all, the crowd knew it.
Although not very responsive from the out set, the 'Circle' soon won many fans over, thanks largely to the ever busy vocalist Pat. The rest of the band however, were strangely rooted to the spot. Apart from Pat, the group weren't too enigmatic, only occasionally banging heads and giving their all, but this is only a small complaint because what Callenish lacked in stage presence they made up for in quality of material.
The crowed were more responsive at the end of their set than at the beginning. The mix was perfect, the delivery and solos were amongst the best of the day. From being arms folded I was soon arms raised in the air, cheering after each song. They may not be anything new but they certainly one of the better bands to grace either stage on the Saturday.