Band:	Callenish Circle
Album:	Forbidden Empathy
Style:	Gothenburg metal
Release date:	2004
A review by:	Malcolm

Disc I
"Graceful... Yet Forbidden" Album
01. No Reason
02. Forgotten
03. Inner Battle (Intro)
04. Beyond
05. Broken
06. Oppressed Natives
07. Silent Tears
08. Passionate Dance (Intro)
09. Caught by Deceit
10. Shadows Of The Past
11. Alone (Outro)

"Escape" EP
12. Silent Tears
13. Epacse
14. Broken
15. Mirror Of Serenity

Disc II
"Drift Of Empathy" Album
01. Inner Sense
02. Mental Affection
03. Slough Of Despond
04. Solitude
05. Last Words
06. The Dreamers Path
07. Disguised Ignorance
08. Where The Moon Meets The Sea
09. Scars

"Lovelorn" Demo
10. Slough Of Despond
11. Disguised Ignorance
12. Lovelorn
13. Shadows

"And The Ravens Left The Tower" Compilation
14. The Dreamers Path

The Dutch MeloDeath pioneers Callenish Circle has been around for some time now, they emerge sometime during 1992, in those early years they played covers, today, 14 years later, they are stated as one of the best MeloDeath acts, ever, from Holland.
Quite a history, not that bad since they aren't that famous around Europe, not as famous as they deserves to be.

Anyway, after four full-length albums, one EP and one Demo fans are screaming out loud for their one and only demo "Lovelorn" but also for their first two albums and their EP is hard to find today. So Callenish Circle did the only right thing, they remastered all the four "albums" and putted them together on one big release, named "Forbidden Empathy" and released it through Karmageddon (not Metal Blade, the label they are signed with), and I don't think any fan of either Callenish Circle nor MeloDeath will be complaining, such a chance to get the early material from such band.

My personal experience with Callenish Circle is just their two newest albums, "Flesh_Power_Dominion" and "My Passion // Your Pain", so this is more than welcome, a good chance to hear what they sounded like back then.
The first album contains second full-length album "Graceful? Yet Forbidden" and the EP "Escape".
"Graceful?" is an album that reminds me very much of the third, "Flesh?", both music and vocals. And the EP sounds almost the same; the quality isn't as good though.

On the second cd you'll get the debut "Drift of Empathy" together with the demo "Lovelorn" plus a little shorter version of the track "The Dreamers Path" (also on the debut) that was included on a compilation called "And the Ravens Left the Tower".
What I can hear here is that the debut was more brutal than the music is today. Or brutal, raw is maybe a better-suited word. There were more Thrash influences too, the music was fast and hard, but the vocals are almost the same, seems like Patrick (Savelkoul) has kept his voice the same throughout the early years.

Personally I think I'll hold "Drift of Empathy" as my favourite of these two, the quality on the EP and Demo feels too simple, but what to expect? It's still more than fun to hear the first ever release of such talented band, it's a priceless gift to us fans.
So if you like Callenish Circle, don't even think of hesitating, buy this album.

Check Out: All the four "albums" that this double contains.