Keep of Kalessin, for some people the überband, others have never heard of them before. But I’ve noticed this band is subject on many forums on the internet. But what makes this band getting so popular? Let’s check it out.

 

Keep of Kalessin was formed in 1994 under the name Ildskjaer. Through the years band members have been replaced. Famous names were involved in KoK, like Frost of Satyricon and Atilla of Mayhem and Aborym. Bandleader and former KoK member Obsidian C is also the live guitarist for Satyricon. ‘Armada’ is the 3^rd album of these blackmetallers from Norway.

In the beginning of their career the music KoK made was a little different as heard on ‘Armada’. Back then it was more oldschool blackmetal. The music on ‘Armada’ is still black metal, but it is way more progressive.

The album begins with ‘Surface’, the intro for the album. The first actual song immediately begins with a high speed tempo, but it still sounds very clear. The song is melodic but also has this cold feeling. After just a few seconds I can already say that the production of ‘Armada’ is great.

With ‘The black uncharted’  KoK kicks down the throttle pedal again. It begins with a nice thrash riff. Through the song the thrashy parts return, although most of the riffs are modern black metal riffs (think of Aborym, Anaal Nathrakh or the newer Mayhem works). Then there is an abrupt change in the middle of the song. Classical guitars take over, and after a while the metal takes over again. Great song!

Well, until the 3^rd song started I thought the album was quite fast. But when I heard ‘Vengeance rising’ my mouth fell open. Fucking hell. Well, yeah those are the words that describe it best I think. This song is really awesome and it's surely my favourite track of the album. Like I said before, beside the massive speed it still has a very clear production and you can really hear what these great musicians have created on their instruments.
 

Then there is the song ‘Deluge’, an instrumental song, with no drums. First I thought it was instrumental, but when you listen very carefully you hear some vocals in the background. Well I believe I heard them, maybe I’m just paranoid.

I really couldn’t find anything on this album that didn’t sound good. Well there is a small thing. The vocals sound awesome, but some passages don't seem to fit on this album if you ask me. So the complete album in a few words : Fast, technical, fast, threatening blackmetal. Did I mention fast? This record surely will be in my list of top albums this year.