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Reviews
Keep of Kalessin: Armada
17/04/06 || Global Domination
This review was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Ambugaton.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I have been waiting for this album for what seems like forever. True, it’s only been around a couple of years, but FUCK, “Reclaim” was so insanely badass I damn near shit myself with excitment once I got a hold on this brand new offering from composition/shred-master Obsidian C. and his not-so-merry band of black metal cohorts. And after giving this album just one spin through my stereo, I’m already fucken hooked.
For those of you already familiar with Keep of Kalessin and the writing of Obsidian C., you should be aware by now that he likes to change shit up. Their first two albums are black-fucken-metal, pure and simple. Then came “Reclaim”, their last release, which I felt was a huge step up from their previous two albums. The production was spot on, the guitars were about as epic as epic gets, and the line-up was nothing short of legendary as far as the black metal scene goes with Frost of Satyricon- fame on drums and Atilla Csihar’s crazy Hungarian ass on vocals. Some people like the more old-school style of the first two albums, and quite a few prefer the new style exemplified by “Reclaim”. Either way, you’re gonna have to form a completely new opinion regarding “Armada”, because with a new line-up Keep of Kalessin seem to have developed a new paradigm as well. This new album is the next fucken step, and a damn big ass-kickin’ step it is.
First off, the music rules all the way up and down the block. Pure fucken black metal riffs, epic riffs, melodic riffs, and every other sort of ass-kicking metal-riff one could think of, fill this album from beginning to end. Personally, I think Obsidian C. is probably one of the best guitar-composers around in the metal-scene today. I remember reading somewhere that he actually wrote alot of the riffs for this album with the intention of it sounding like two guitars playing simultaneously when it was in fact just him.
There’s this one riff in the middle of “The Black Uncharted” (of which a sample is available on their website if you need further convincing) that seriously sounds like two guitarists finger-picking through some awkward barouqe-esque black metal riff… BEFORE the classical guitar-part even comes in. If you don’t think that’s just mega-spinecrushingly-superduper-badass, you need to go fuck yourself with a rake, because you are wrong.
To top off all of this rampant guitar-wankery, Obsidian has a knack for picking the best of the best to back him in his metal endeavours. The drums are fucken spot on perfection… perfect sound, intense speed and brutality, and none of those god awful half-assed blastbeats you all know I despise so much. I can’t really comment on the bass because, as usual, you can’t hear SHIT of it most of the time. But I’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt since pretty much everyone that has ever been or will be in Keep of Kalessin has to be a badass musician as far as I am concerned.
The only part that may throw most people off is the vocals. Most people familiar with black metal would expect… well… fucken black metal lyrics. Prepare to be dissapointed fucko, cuz Keep of Kalessin are way better than all those other shitty copycat bands. Most of the lyrics on “Armada” sound to me to be heralding to old-school thrash and thrash/death lyrics. Shit like Motorhead, Slayer, and Carnivore come to mind quite often. But Thebon makes it a point to change it up a bit, and has quite a nice range of neat sounds he can make with his throat and mouth and whatnot. With Obsidian backing him, the result is a veritable cornucopia of lyrical metal brutality. Ranging from death metal growls to black metal screams to thrash metal yells to epic clean portions, this smörgåsbord of lyrical variety should leave few dissapointed. And if you do, feel free to refer back to my last comment about the guitar riffs…
If you like metal, you should fucken like this album. Some may be turned off by the vocals, some by the new style Keep of Kalessin has adopted, and some because they have extremely shitty taste and don’t realize how much this rules. No matter which group you belong to, go buy this album anyways, because it kicks a ridiculous amount of ass.
9.5/10.
- Information
- Released: 2006
- Label: Tabu Recordings
- Website: Keep of Kalessin
- Band
- Obsidian C.: guitar, synth, backing vocals
- Wizziac: bass
- Thebon: vocals
- Vyl: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Surface
- 02. Crown of Kings
- 03. The Black Uncharted
- 04. Vengeance Rising
- 05. Many Are We
- 06. Winged Watcher
- 07. Into The Fire
- 08. Deluge
- 09. The Wealth of Darkness
- 10. Armada