KEEP OF KALESSIN – Reptilian

The Norwegian band releases their fifth full length album in 17 years of their existence, and this one is going to divide the fans. The band already started by competing for the Eurovision Song Contest, the one that LORDI won a few years back. A Black Metal band? Yes, it is bizarre, but they tried nevertheless. And that leads us to

What’s good

on this album, because the song they wanted to conquer the Eurovision world with is a definite highlight of the Reptilian. “The Dragontower” has a great, memorable chorus and clear vocals. But it is not the only highlight, tracks like the epic, atmospheric “Dark As Moonless Night” and the suspenseful “The Awakening”, plus “Judgement”, a song which leaves the Black Metal roots behind for at least half of the track, do not fail to impress. Also the album has a great production, powerful but clear, that supports the delicacy of the compositions.

What’s bad

The worst one can say about the album is that remaining with one foot in standard Black Metal is a waste of the songwriting skills of the Norwegians. Blast beat assaults that hardly seem to serve any purpose except to just be there, taint the overall picture, and noise infernos like “Leaving The Mortal Flesh” pale in comparison to the great songs Reptilian has to offer. So the criticism would be that they did not use their potential to the fullest, something which they hopefully will do next time.

In the meantime this is an album worth listening to. Old school Black Metal fans will certainly hate it, but anybody with an open mind should listen to a few songs and decide for himself. Keep Of Kalessin have created a portal through which music lovers may gain access to Black Metal, while the band seems to go in the other direction.