Kolossus

Nuclear Blast

I have great respect for a band when they are able to successfully step outside the comfort zone of their well defined place of importance in relation to the way things ought to be and give to the fans a dose of true musical enlightenment. For Norway’s Keep Of Kalessin who are notoriously the preeminent overlords of the modern day Black Metal movement I give great applaud.

With the release of their fourth full length studio effort Kolossus, Keep Of Kalessin are in perfect rhyme and reason giving a renewed and refreshingly heightened perspective on the famed Black Metal movement. Taking a step away from the traditional Neanderthal prospects of the genre’s early incarnations they bring to the table a much needed change of direction. Opting to include even more influences of classic Thrash and old school Death Metal than on any of their previous releases Keep Of Kalessin are well on their way to becoming the next big thing out of the Scandinavian hot spots. In addition the ever popular or not so anymore voice of Satanically themed music is more or less absent here, or possibly just written in such an intelligent manor that one must take a deeper look to fully embrace the anti religion sentiment that is still prevalent but cunningly obscured.

Musically Kolossus is a top notch endeavor with rapid drum fire and machine-gun riffing, but not all encompassing as their penchant for melody is passionately portrayed just as strongly. The nine track collection offers up some truly noteworthy mentions including the obvious powerhouse opener “Origin”, the incendiary ”Escape The Union” and what is probably the best reflection of the bands skill overall in the darkly fairing of “The Rising Sun”.

-Priest