The Callous Daoboys have never been a band to color inside the lines, and on I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven, they take their chaos and sharpen it into something sprawling, ambitious, and oddly purposeful. Addiction, love, and other human extremes are woven into frenetic genre shifts, schizophrenic pacing, and moments of haunting beauty, resulting in an album that is as exhausting as it is exhilarating.

The record opens with “I. Collection of Forgotten Dreams,” a hazy, half-buried monologue about legacy and meaning layered over muffled, distorted instrumentation that almost becomes atmosphere itself. It lingers a little longer than necessary, but it plants the seeds for what follows: an album preoccupied with memory, collapse, and rebirth. That rebirth erupts violently on “Schizophrenia Legacy,” where high-strung guitar lines clash with emo-scream vocals in a stop-start frenzy. Beneath the chaos, there’s a groove that emerges when the band allows the song to breathe, and flashes of jazzy interplay hint at the extraordinary range the Daoboys can cover in a single track. The exhilaration and overwhelm set here persist throughout the album.

Yet the album isn’t a relentless barrage. “Full Moon Guidance” balances raw heaviness with playful dissonance, its tight cohesion making it one of the most focused moments. Similarly, “Two-Headed Trout” showcases the band’s mastery of ebb and flow, shifting effortlessly from ambient synths to sensual grooves to guttural death-metal growls without losing its narrative thread. These tracks highlight how the Daoboys keep the listener engaged even while throwing the entire history of heavy music into a blender.

Not every experiment lands. “Tears on Lambo Leather” and “Douchebag Safari” embody the band’s spastic tendencies at their most extreme, collapsing into chaotic riffing and abrupt endings that blur the boundaries of song structure. Even so, moments of brilliance — filthy guitar tones, punishing breakdowns, playful percussion — remind the listener why taking these risks is central to the band’s ethos.

The album shines brightest when the Daoboys push beyond traditional mathcore territory. “Lemon” is buoyant and surprising, blending Afrobeat-inspired rhythms with tender vocals before exploding into a cathartic full-band finale. “Body Horror for Birds” goes further still, layering strings and delicate vocal delivery into a track that is sensual, resonant, and unexpectedly cohesive. These deviations provide context for the chaos—they prove that The Callous Daoboys aren’t just restless, they are deliberate visionaries.

Humor and heaviness intertwine seamlessly on tracks like “The Demon of Unreality Limping Like a Dog,” which layers apocalyptic samples, barking dogs, and a bongo interlude, and on “Idiot Temptation Force,” which almost collapses under sloppy drumming and disjointed riffs before redeeming itself with brass and clean vocals. This constant push-and-pull between failure and triumph becomes the lifeblood of the album.

The closing stretch — “Distracted by the Mona Lisa” and “III. Country Song in Reverse” — encapsulates the duality of the Daoboys’ approach. The former delivers some of the most emotionally resonant vocals on the album, while the latter indulges in chaotic riffing beneath airy ambience. Together, they capture the essence of the band: every risk matters, even when it doesn’t fully pay off.

I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven is messy, indulgent, and at times exhausting — but it’s also inventive, versatile, and electrifying. The Callous Daoboys balance playfulness with intensity, chaos with cohesion, and humor with sincerity. In their best moments — “Lemon,” “Body Horror for Birds,” and “Full Moon Guidance” — they define a path forward for mathcore while gleefully mocking its past. Not just a mathcore record, but a carnival of sound where every detour counts, missteps and all.

Rating: 7/10