Johannes Nygård Callisto
Combining metal, progressive and experimental music, trying to fit the Finnish band Callisto into one category hardly does the band justice. Founded in 2001, the quintet play diverse, timeless, downbeat music that is rich in nuances, draws from numerous sources and doesn't really have any obvious point of comparison. The band's sophomore album Noir was released in 2006 and it exceeded all the high expectations set by the debut. Still drawing from modern sludge, Noir also introduced subtle jazz leanings, heavy use of mellotron and experimentation with unconventional metal rock instruments such as the saxophone and the flute. Guitarist Johannes Nygård and bassist Juho Niemelä both play many EMG models, something for every nuance; Juho had this comment on his use of the MMCS, “The sound with EMG resulted in a warmer, "fatter" tone, and the sustain got clearly better… I´m very satisfied! You could clearly hear the progress in the overall sound.” Having received rave reviews and toured actively in Finland, Europe and North America, Callisto released their third studio album, Providence in early 2009.