Calva Louise – Edge of the Abyss
Release Date: 11th July 2025
Label: Mascot Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Metalcore, Heavy Metal, Punk, Electronica, Art Rock.
FFO: Dead Pony, Wargasm, Vukovi, Nova Twins, Saint Agnes.
Review By: Mark Waight
Coming from very different corners of the world, Calva Louise have always used their vastly different influences and experiences to entwine a whole myriad of different genres and styles into their creativity.
Calva Louise’s music combines metal, punk, electronica and art rock into a uniquely captivating modern sound that forms their trademark.
“Edge of the Abyss” is the fourth album from Calva Louise and builds on their previous releases “Rhinoceros” (2019), “Euphoric” (2021) and “Over the Threshold” (2023).
Calva Louise is Jess Allanic (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Alizon Taho (bass, backing vocals), and Ben Parker (drums, backing vocals).
There is never any danger of “Tunnel Vision” with a Calva Louise tune, as they always go at it from more different angles than an A level trigonometry class. Next up, disturbing and confusing scream fest “W.T.F.” will leave you saying exactly that as it burns its way deep into your tympanic membrane.
Third track “Aimless” is anything but, it is in fact a hard-hitting modern metal song with moments of pure brutality that really hit the bullseye. “Lo Que Vale” is one of several songs sung in Jess’s native language, this one is a scorching blend of Latino charm and violent death metal.
An exciting mix of Electronica and futuristic Post-Punk on “Impeccable” poses the almost impossible question to the listener of should I dance or maybe headbang? My advice? Do both! “Barely A Response” will incite you to do much more than that in this high tempo alternative metal song with a bit of a Sci-Fi twist.
Prepare to fall into “The Abyss” with this glow stick inspiring gothic dance extravaganza that reinvents and reignites the clubbing experience to a different audience. Going both hard and then gentle, “El Umbral” is a heavy impact tune with a deft touch.
The crazy pulsating beat and totally insane vocals of “La Corriente” set up the listener nicely to the contrasting style of raging modern metal track “Hate in Me” which is an absolute blast. Hopefully, final track “Under the Skin” won’t do that at all because it is a mighty fine Nu-Metal curtain closer with a lovely orchestral arrangement.
Every track on “Edge of the Abyss” offers a completely different listening experience, leaving very little opportunity for you to ever get bored with it. Calva Louise tick a lot of boxes for me and in true modern metal fashion are more than happy to crisscross genre boundaries at will and mix things up in their own unique way.
Calva Louise’s style gives them widespread appeal to the younger rock and metal audience as well as maybe a few old codgers like me too. If you are a fan of the infinite variety of the modern metal sound, then Calva Louise are probably already on your playlist, but just in case you have been living in the wilderness for several years, their new album “Edge of the Abyss” is certainly worth checking out!
(4 / 5)
