ALBUM REVIEW: Edge Of The Abyss – Calva Louise
CALVA LOUISE must be exhausted. Not only have they endured a relentless creative streak, consistently unleashing hell for almost a decade since their inception, but their sound has grown exponentially more erratic since. They may have started a folksy, cosy, mashup of Latin and 00s Brit-rock, but the CALVA LOUISE of today produces a sound with all the sour fuzz and distortion of licking a tangfastics-flavoured car battery; and somehow they make that sound excellent.
It’s been a steady evolution, with each EP project and album getting ‘that’ bit more frenetic, but 2025’s Edge Of The Abyss (EOTA) is on the precipice of something truly foreboding – a dark void that sucks you in and spits you back out just as quickly with tinnitus and a grin on your face. There’s no doubt the band will have more to offer for years to come, but for now, this is undoubtedly their finest hour.
So what does this sound like once you drop the needle? For the uninitiated, CALVA LOUISE resides in a haze of alt-metal, punk rock, electronica, and a hint of post-hardcore. Zainy, impassioned yells from Jess Allanic sit atop busy rhythms and overdriven guitars before hitting pause on the chaos to deliver the band’s stadium-worthy hooks. Put simply, it’s a lot. But this is a particularly meditated form of mayhem, set apart from contemporaries taking the ‘disorganised’ nature of hyper-pop (as it slowly takes hold of the wider industry) a tad too seriously. Take a track like W.T.F., for example. On first listen, the title seems an accurate descriptor of the experience – manic demonic vocals and breakdowns that knee-jerk into a dancefloor-ready chorus – but its deceiving complexity reveals carefully layered cascading piano lines, sirens, and hidden harmonies once it is given time to breathe.
EOTA takes a similar approach to rewarding its more diligent listeners throughout its water-tight runtime. Tracks never reach the five-minute mark, with frenzied bludgeoning favoured over anything too drawn out, but each of the album’s 11 offerings is replete with hidden treasures for any music nerd to pour themselves over. Stylistically, as ever, the album is a victory lap of alternative music’s greatest hits. Be it the post-hardcore belter Barely A Response, the synthwave-coded warbles of The Abyss, or the cinematic album closer Under The Skin, CALVA LOUISE refuses to apologise for not picking a lane; and by god has not fitting sounded this good for a while. Having said that, they don’t leave their influences at the door, with comparisons to the likes of POPPY understandably rearing their heads, and even some not-so-subtle nods to Origins Of Symmetry era MUSE on The Abyss’ keyboard arrangements. Having said that, individuality is something the band has never had less than buckets of, and any cherry-picking from those that came before them only serves to enrich an already dynamic melting pot of sounds and textures.
On paper, the trio doesn’t really a foot wrong. But there is the occasional odd songwriting or arrangement choice here and there that sadly deflates the band’s hard work to raise heart rates. La Corriente sits awkwardly sandwiched between El Umbral and Hate In Me, songs that simply achieve far more with their allotted time – easily sticking to the brain while La Corriente loses itself to obscurity. The Abyss, too, is a frustrating one. It spends 75% of its length building glorious retro-synth soundscapes – taking ample notes from Blade Runner’s books – only to slowly meander off into god knows where. Is it intended to be playing off its own name by fading into nothing? Potentially. Is it a satisfying conclusion regardless? Unfortunately not.
These are, at worst, minute hindrances to an album that is otherwise doing precisely what it needs to. It may have taken its time to rumble to the surface, but Edge Of The Abyss is the mission statement that the band has been waiting to make for nigh on a decade. Its fidgety, abrasive, and challenging interpretations of the world of alternative music could very well be the breakthrough album the scene needs – uniting diverse crowds from all corners of the industry under the shelter of this rather exotic umbrella. It’s not perfect, but it’s the very best CALVA LOUISE has ever been – and considering they’ve rarely been short of epic, they have well and truly earned your attention in 2025.
Rating: 8/10
Edge Of The Abyss is out now via Mascot Records.
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