Kalmah // Review
|
CD: For the Revolution Released: 14 July 2008 |
When I saw Kalmah at Wacken in 2002 I wasn’t aware at the time just how lucky I was. You see it wasn’t just the band’s first gig outside of their native Finland but was in fact only their second ever gig – not that you’d have noticed considering how tight the band were and the amount of stage presence they had.
Even now almost a full six years down the line as I write this (with me again making preparations for going to Wacken in a few short weeks time) and with three full-length albums released between now and then the band have rarely played outside of Finland.
Still, nostalgia apart how does the new album For the Revolution sound? Well the simple answer is it’s a cross between the band’s earlier “Swamp” albums and the previous Black Waltz album. The album retains the generally heavier guitar tones of the last album as well as the majority of the vocals being in the much deeper growl that Pekka Kokko adopted last time around but there’s nods to the older album’s more melodic sensibilities – and those higher pitched shrieks make a welcome return at points too making for the most vocally diverse album Kalmah have done – and without resorting to those horribly processed ‘clean’ singalong choruses so beloved of most of the “melodeath” community these days too.
Of course the comparisons to Children Of Bodom are still evident. As much as people may deny it the amount of bands that fused the heavier ends of power metal with the more melodic parts of melodic death metal and overlaid them with higher black metal influenced shrieks and plenty of guitar/keyboard solo duels that followed Bodom down the line from Finland can’t be sheer coincidence. Whilst Bodom have increasingly simplified their style though (and seemingly forgotten how to write a decent song in the process) Kalmah have stuck to their guns and are one of the few bands still playing this form of “extreme power metal” that are not only both melodic and heavy at the same time but are also capable of writing memorable songs too... I’m still not sure whether the cover of Sepultura’s Arise on the UK Expanded edition of the album is brilliant or utter rubbish though.
Of course it’s not the cover version (which is merely a bonus track anyway) that’s important, it’s the quality of Kalmah’s own songs that matter and for my money with For the Revolution the band have proved themselves as the best of the so called “Bodom clone” bands – trumping even the originals. Hopefully this will be the album that makes the band venture out of their native Finland more than once a blue moon.
Review by Neil Woodfin
Track Listing
| For the Revolution |
p01] For the Revolution |
Buy From
Other Reviews
None as yet