Calliope “Chapel Perilous” 2018. Romanus Records. Limited edition custom vinyl, black sand and gold glitter filled. I nabbed this beauty on Saturday night at Calliope’s record release show where they played Company Brewing in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood along with Space Raft and Shogun, two other local bands. Calliope recorded Chapel Perilous awhile back in the northwoods of Wisconsin, releasing the 7″ of “Sea of Red” – b/w “Brujo” – last year (and its crazy-ass video just a few weeks ago). Like “Sea of Red” and “Brujo” which both appear on the new LP, the rest of Chapel Perilous is super-heavy stoner psych rock with enough metal (i.e. “Sands of July” is touched by Sabbath) for a slo-mo head banging session. (While trying to take a few photos at the show I got whiplashed in the face by some dude’s long blond locks, ew. I’m pretty sure Calliope was performing “Evil as You” when that happened). They credit “a lot” of musical influences and besides metal, there’s a bit of blues (one of my favorite tracks is “Carry Me Home” with its brutal yet melancholy sliding guitar and organ) and even whispers of country – granted it’s country on acid (i.e. “The Dunes”). The title track, “Chapel Perilous” has a totally creepy intro before launching into dense and savage droning organ swirls.

The show on Saturday was an amazing trip, Calliope’s psychedelic rock enhanced by a hallucinogenic light show and stage backdrop; while it didn’t have the big budget production of the Black Angels show we saw the previous weekend, it was still a great visual experience. Below are photos of Al Kraemer (keyboards, vocals) getting in on the head-banging; Victor Buell (guitar) and Anthony Smith (bass) getting lost in the musical haze.