Edge of the Abyss caught us off guard.
Calva Louise are able to mix Colombian cuatro, heavy riffs, screaming, classical piano, massive drums, Spanish lyrics hooks and pop melodies. Yes, at the same time.
Edge of the Abyss sounds like a band taking everything they feel, everything they are and everything the like into one complete and cohesive thing.
Calva Louise – Jess Allanic, Ben Parker and Alizon Taho – refuse to leave parts of themselves outside the room just because they do not fit neatly into one genre box.
There is a bit of System of a Down in the way some songs bend and twitch. A bit of Linkin Park in the emotional overload. Some punk urgency. Some metal weight. Some electronic unease. Calva Louise have built their own internal logic, and once you step into it, every sharp turn starts making sense.
Jess Allanic’s voice is a huge part of that. There is a strange pop precision in the way she places melodies, even when goes full on banshee screaming mode. uniquely cool. A friend of the Crowds said she is the Britney Spears of metal, which is funny and not entirely wrong.
“Aimless” is probably the easiest way into the record. Readers by advise, it will test you. If you pass, “Hate in Me” will be the next melody you won’t stop singing. Our favorite, maybe biased by our editor’s Spanish roots, is “La Corriente”. Check the lyrics and Jess’ intensity. Just, damn.
There is something very satisfying about a record that sounds like a band accepting that their most interesting version is the one that keeps every piece, even the difficult ones, together.
Calva Louise do not sound like a band trying to fit somewhere. They sound like a band building the place themselves.
Listen where you listen:
