Reviews : Albums : Keep of Kalessin, "Through Times of War"
Email the reviewerKeep of Kalessin, "Through Times of War"
This Norweigan band material [formally called Ildskjaer] keep floating around on the periphery of the material I got a chance to listen to. Now that I have heard them, I would say, "Think typical Scandanvian black metal and you won't go far wrong." I have read that the band are influenced by the Ursula la Guin "Earthsea" series, well if The Summoning want to go with Toilkin there's no reason why Keep of the Kalessin can't use something else.
First off, I really like the big fat sound. The album was well recorded and well mixed, though, as usual, I'm sure there is a bass guitar in there somewhere! I like the slightly religious keyboard sound that comes through from the third track onwards, it really fills the sound. All the tracks are quite melodic - for a black metal band - and the vocals are the requisite growley, broken glass-in-the-throat type. The musicianship is tight and well executed, while the songs are competently constructed.
And here we come the not-so-good bit. The usual complaint for bands of this type is that they all sound the same - and no, I'm not getting too old. Nearly every bombastic black metal band gets compared to Dimmu Borgir, who have got the whole image and sound thing pretty-well wrapped. While Keep of the Kalessin are equally as good as Dimmu Borgir, it will probably not be enough to elevate them to the same status simply because they didn't get there early enough.
Standout Tracks As a Shadow Cast |
