Kalmah - Swamplord
Century Media
/covers/kalmah.jpg
Visit the Century Media website
Visit the Kalmah website
By Rodrigo
Swamplord is the newest release from the Century Media/Spikefarm Records deal and it is the debut of the Finnish band Kalmah. Going right into the crowded melodic death metal genre, Kalmah has come out with an aggressive, dark and melodic release that should please fans of bands like Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. Kalmah will probably draw the most comparisons to Children of Bodom due to the keyboard usage but it really takes influences from many bands. With Swamplord, Kalmah joins Shadow as two of the brightest young melodic death metal bands that you should definitely keep an eye on in the future.
Kalmah has great strengths in all its band members like the twin-guitar work of Antti Kokko and Pekka Kokko (who also doubles as the excellent harsh singer), the precise and tight rhythm section of bassit Altti Veteläinen and drummer Petri Sankala, and last but not least are the keyboards of Pasi Hiltula. But the use of the keyboards is minimal, not overblown and they are always used in the context of the song. They enhance the songs without drowning out the other instruments. "Black Roija" has virtually no keyboard parts to speak off but most of the songs do like "Evil in You". This song is one of the best of the album. With a great bass and drum intro to the haunting organ sounds at the end this song, "Evil in You" is a fast, aggressive and melodic sonic ride. "Heritance of Berija" employs the classic keyboard and guitar solo trade-offs used mostly by progressive metal bands like Symphony X. "Dance of the Water" does start off with dreamy keyboard sounds but just before you know it the guitars come in with an excellent twin lead and then a great guitar solo follows. "Hades" is an extremely fast and melodic song with a very strong and enjoyable chorus where the music is really awesome.
I would have to say that the most annoying aspect of Swamplord is that it is way too short, the 8 songs total under 40 minutes. I wanted to hear more but it is also a good aspect that Kalmah didnt try to fit as many songs as possible into one album. Swamplord is short and to the point. The future is bright for Kalmah. They show great promise and this was the perfect start for them. Now it will be more important for them to come into their own sound and not draw comparisons to other similar bands. Swamplord is a great step forward and hopefully they will take giant steps for upcoming albums.
Century Media
/covers/kalmah.jpg
Visit the Century Media website
Visit the Kalmah website
By Rodrigo
Swamplord is the newest release from the Century Media/Spikefarm Records deal and it is the debut of the Finnish band Kalmah. Going right into the crowded melodic death metal genre, Kalmah has come out with an aggressive, dark and melodic release that should please fans of bands like Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. Kalmah will probably draw the most comparisons to Children of Bodom due to the keyboard usage but it really takes influences from many bands. With Swamplord, Kalmah joins Shadow as two of the brightest young melodic death metal bands that you should definitely keep an eye on in the future.
Kalmah has great strengths in all its band members like the twin-guitar work of Antti Kokko and Pekka Kokko (who also doubles as the excellent harsh singer), the precise and tight rhythm section of bassit Altti Veteläinen and drummer Petri Sankala, and last but not least are the keyboards of Pasi Hiltula. But the use of the keyboards is minimal, not overblown and they are always used in the context of the song. They enhance the songs without drowning out the other instruments. "Black Roija" has virtually no keyboard parts to speak off but most of the songs do like "Evil in You". This song is one of the best of the album. With a great bass and drum intro to the haunting organ sounds at the end this song, "Evil in You" is a fast, aggressive and melodic sonic ride. "Heritance of Berija" employs the classic keyboard and guitar solo trade-offs used mostly by progressive metal bands like Symphony X. "Dance of the Water" does start off with dreamy keyboard sounds but just before you know it the guitars come in with an excellent twin lead and then a great guitar solo follows. "Hades" is an extremely fast and melodic song with a very strong and enjoyable chorus where the music is really awesome.
I would have to say that the most annoying aspect of Swamplord is that it is way too short, the 8 songs total under 40 minutes. I wanted to hear more but it is also a good aspect that Kalmah didnt try to fit as many songs as possible into one album. Swamplord is short and to the point. The future is bright for Kalmah. They show great promise and this was the perfect start for them. Now it will be more important for them to come into their own sound and not draw comparisons to other similar bands. Swamplord is a great step forward and hopefully they will take giant steps for upcoming albums.
