ALBUM REVIEW: Katharsis – Keep of Kalessin

With VOYAGER and LORD OF THE LOST competing this year, it’s worth remembering that a decade ago the notion of a metal band representing a country at Eurovision was laughable, LORDI‘s 2006 triumph seen as a freak occurrence. Hell, even NIGHTWISH failed to make the cut to represent their native Finland once upon a time. The same held true for Norwegians KEEP OF KALESSIN, who bid for representation in 2010 with insanely catchy ditty The Dragontower but ended up finishing third – mind you, the group, anchored by founder Arnt “Obsidian C.” Grønbech, haven’t done too badly since their formation in the mid 90s, having developed their own style of ‘epic extreme metal’ that includes elements of black, death, power and symphonic. Katharsis is the band’s first new studio album in eight years and their seventh overall, coming out on Friday via Morningstar Music and Back On Black Records.

If you’re only aware of KEEP OF KALESSIN through their attempts at following in the footsteps of ABBA, MÅNESKIN and, er, KATRINA AND THE WAVES, then prepare yourself for a culture shock; the opening title track of Katharsis is steeped in the polar sounds of symphonic black metal with a soaring chorus demanding you raise a fist in the air; the vocals aren’t as harsh as bands who fit the genre better like, say, DIMMU BORGIR, but the music couldn’t be more in line. This develops into a more blackened thrash sound on Hellride, which retains the choral backings but has more of a chug in the guitars and, this time, Obsidian‘s harsher screams are much more suited.

At the back end of the album, we find The Obsidian Expanse and Throne Of Execration, which come in at a combined 18 minutes in length. The former blasts you with an excellent drumming performance courtesy of praised Youtuber Wanja “Nechtan” Groeger; the second serenades you with a virtuoso solo that takes up the whole of the second half and shows Obsidian has some serious chops on the axe as well. The final outro, The Eternal Swarm, brings a feeling of mystery and intrigue, as if there’s more to come on the horizon – certainly before 2031, which is where we’ll be if there’s another gap like this time.

Yet, the middle of the album gets bogged down; by the time The Omni is coming to a close, the tropes of the choral backing vocals, plethora of drum fills and overblown ambience begin to grow stale; KEEP OF KALESSIN are more than competent, but they’re not standing out. It leaves both War Of The Wyrm and From The Stars And Beyond on a hiding to nothing, mere filler tracks that sail by without a note of importance. Mercifully, Journey’s End jolts you back into the album with a change of pace, its clean, melodic opening and gradual build into a full blown ballad a welcome relief from the barrage of extreme metal that’s come before it.

After almost a decade with no new material, you can forgive KEEP OF KALESSIN for being slightly rough around the edges with their return to studio releases, however Katharsis has enough on there to delight those who have sorely missed them. A sharper edge will be needed on future releases if they are to progress further, but for now, this will do just fine.

Rating: 6/10

Katharsis is set for release on March 24th via Morningstar Music/Back On Black Records.

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