“The Brooklyn metal scene is betting on The Callous Daoboys.” — Show Review: The Callous Daoboys in Bushwick
Axel Steel. Judy Nails. Johnny Napalm. The Callous Daoboys.
“Look at this Guitar Hero-ass venue,” Daoboys’ frontman and vocalist Carson Pace laughs, surveying the teeming room as the passing J shakes the historic Market Hotel. Based on the creeping sweat condensation masking the train-facing windows, The Callous Daoboys look ready to hit Star Power. “Oh you played Brooklyn last night? Did a train go by? Yeah, it did.” Practically on top of the Myrtle Ave-Broadway stop, strap-hangers must’ve been privy to some of the most absurd riffs Kings County has ever heard.
Following the May 2025 release of the band’s third LP, I Don’t Want to See You In Heaven, The Callous Daoboys let Bushwick see Heaven on their first full North American headlining tour. With the Atlanta, Georgia sextet selling out the quaint Ridgewood space TV Eye before you could spell “Siphonophore,” the venue upgrade to Market Hotel allowed for almost double the original capacity of hardcore youths draped in enormous jorts. And thankfully so: from the emo-synth tinged opener, Crush++, to the deathcore circle-pitting of Your Spirit Dies, and the high-energy nu metal of Dallas standouts UNITYTX, Market Hotel’s second floor two-stepped elbow-to-elbow until 9:55 PM sharp.
Softly haloed by neon trimming of the snug bay window from which drummer Marty Hague will switch impossible time signatures, “Full Moon Guidance” (dexterous guitarist Dan Hodson’s favorite Heaven track) incites the crowd into bum-rushing the floor. The thrashing groove of “Two-Headed Trout” is anchored by Pace’s flawless vocal delivery, oscillating between sardonic pop chorus and severe metal growl. Leaping back to their 2023 EP, God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys, the frantic “Pushing the Pink Envelope” is suddenly matched on stage by Midas-touch bassist Jackie Buckalew’s top string snapping (luckily, Crush++ deftly provided a backup). Ironically, The Callous Daoboys’ outlier set feature, “Lemon,” might be the slowest, most straight-forward hip mover of their discography–but the final chorus delivers an incendiary reaction, topped with a final refrain from Jimmy Eat World crowd-pleaser, “Sweetness.”
The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum-referencing “What Is Delicious? Who Swarms?” off the outfit’s second album, Celebrity Therapist, steamrolls through harsh, guttural verses and a sweetly melodic bridge before crescendoing in furious call-and-response. “Distracted by the Mona Lisa,” the Three Days Grace-adjacent Heaven single unites the room in melancholy singalong before the a cappella war cry “Ugga Ugga Boo / Ugga Boo Boo Ugga” launches the pit skyward for “Idiot Temptation Force.” Positively shrieking through selections from their 2019 debut, Die on Mars, moving one brave soul to scale a thick pillar dividing the pit, The Callous Daoboys blaze through the short-but-mighty “Fake Dinosaur Bones” and “Blackberry DeLorean”. “This one’s for the moshers,” Buckalew dedicates the latter.
After crushing Heaven’s opening track, “Schizophrenia Legacy,” violinist Amber Christman’s bow is totally shredded. And while photographer Nat Lacuna serves OceanGate submersible-low vocals as stand-in for Orthodox’s Adam Easterling on “Tears on Lambo Leather,” guitarist Maddie Caffrey’s left hand runs ridiculously intricate marathons on her frets. Fan-favorite “Star Baby,” featuring an inspired performance by Daoboys’ saxophonist Rich Castillo, sums up the voracious demand of the room: “Don’t want any ‘All The Small Things’ / I want my Callous Daoboys!”
The haunting whiplash of tense verse and teasing chorus in “The Demon of Unreality Limping Like A Dog” leaves the moshpit half-salsaing to the Latin-inspired breakdown as Pace’s pleas remind the crowd: “It’s the last chance to take a breath / The last chance to fake your death.” Remaining full throttle through the encore, the six-piece treat Market Hotel to one final metalcore classic: “Sorry You’re Not A Winner,” a roaring Enter Shikari cover met with reverberating “clap-clap-claps.”
On the way out of Market Hotel, remembering the bands’ recent Salt Lake City near-cancelation due to illness, salvaged by a crowd-participation Karaoke Night, it felt appropriate to ask Pace what his go-to karaoke number is. “Ms. New Booty,” he answers immediately: “I have the whole Ying Yang Twins part down.”
Between the genre-bending chaos of their discography, and their inimitable ease in navigating feats of live music, the Daoboys’ melting pot of influences have spawned quite the captivating mathcore enigma. While the band may insist “which horse you bet on doesn’t matter,” the veritable force of the impassioned crowd shows the Brooklyn metal scene is betting on The Callous Daoboys.