For the better part of six years, The Callous Daoboys have existed as an entity driven by the desire to be an undefinable band nearly incapable of being accused of any genre. Their 2022 album Celebrity Therapist brought this mission to new heights, presenting a collection of their most thoughtful songs to date, proving they were capable of being more than just heavy and noisy and weird, but also incredibly moving and innovative as well. Vocalist Carson Pace illuminated the band’s intention to make certain that every song on the album had some kind of hook – a hook truly in the pop music sense – and it showed as the band broke into a whole new level of mass appeal. This is all said to give context for the fact that in the three songs that make up their new EP God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys, they have somehow managed to double down on that growth and tremendously exceed the expectations set by Celebrity Therapist.
Where God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys succeeds is in offering their most accessible material to date not only without sacrificing the chaos and noise they are known for, but in fact while ramping that up as well. The opening track, ‘Pushing the Pink Envelope’ begins with a brief synth laden intro with some mainstream rock sensibility, a singular moment of relative calm that allows the listener to brace themselves before immediately launching into a heavy breakdown. One thing about this EP is that the breakdowns scattered throughout it largely avoid being too ostentatious, a trademark of the mathcore label the band often gets assigned, and focus largely on being pure 90s metalcore style kill-each-other moments. This too, however, is immediately interrupted to lead into a barrages of seemingly disparate sections that range from breakcore, chaotic mathcore riffs, salsa and hyperpop. It’s a song that refuses to stand still for too long, reminiscent of bands like The Great Redneck Hope or the finer moments of I Set My Friends On Fire’s debut album You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter, constantly bouncing between sounds and styles so rapidly it feels impossible to keep up.
“Where God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys succeeds is in giving the listener their most accessible material to date not only without sacrificing the chaos and noise they are known for, but in fact while ramping that up as well.”
The genius of The Callous Daoboys is that it never feels random or out of place. Somehow it always makes sense that we’ve ended up wherever we are at any given moment. Somehow, despite everything happening in this song, the most jarring bit is that they are able to incorporate an incredibly written, infectious chorus into all of it. When the song somehow meanders its way along a path of heavy chugged breakdowns and vile mechanical riffs back to the chorus, it feels truly unbelievable a feat for them to have been able to pull off.
This same energy is continued on the album’s closing song ‘Designer Shroud of Turin’. There’s a moment approaching the end, leading into a gorgeous saxophone section, where these unidentifiable sounds pop in and out in such quick succession that it sounds like someone using the scan feature on their FM radio in an alternate universe where the Top 40 list is made up of background noises in Japanese arcade games. It’s mind boggling, confusing, impossible to predict, and yet somehow immediately accessible.
In saying that lead single ‘Waco Jesus’ is the highlight of the EP, it’s only to say that it is The Callous Daoboys at their most radio-ready. It takes the importance of the hook that Carson spoke of regarding Celebrity Therapist and heightens it to its most effective use. The riffs are still flashy and technical, but this time in a way that reminds more of Protest the Hero’s Fortress. Every moment of the song is thoughtful and focused, and it manages to be metalcore laden with pure pop sensibility without just becoming pop music cosplaying as metalcore.
This is The Callous Daoboys proving that they undeniably have what it takes to be a massive mainstream band, but too much integrity to strip away their most authentic components and dumb down their approach to crafting meaningful and inventive music. This EP is clearly focused on being true to one’s art, celebrating that creative drive and refusing to lose sight of it. Nurturing that need to create and to express your creativity in the most authentic terms possible. The Callous Daoboys are just showing us how much you can do while being true to yourself as an artist. This is obviously a springboard into whatever the band is cooking up next, and if they continue to follow this progression of incredibly thoughtful, focused, intentional, boundary-pushing writing, whatever their next project is will almost certainly be their undeniable masterpiece and will transcend everything they’ve done to date.