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On disc: Kalmah



- They Will Return - Peter Haber - 9 stars


www.kalmah.com







They Will Return

They Will Return
(Century Media - 2002)


The Finnish Children Of Bodom created their own sound and it was just a question of time 'til a band with a similar sound would show up. Not necessarily a bad thing, coz when you can add something new or different, it can be a new shade of the original sound. The first songs are pretty close to COB, but have touch more black metal. But then they get more unique. Not an easy task to describe their sound... It's somewhere between melodic mid-tempo black metal and the Gothenborg death metal. Many melodic black metal bands tend to use the keyboard very upfront and not only to support the song. I prefer it when the keyboard stays more in the background and so Kalmah's style is of my taste.
I can always recommend to listen to an album before purchasing it, but if you like the general describtion, then it's no risk at all. But you can check out the opener and to get the whole picture listen to the title track They Will Return. Sometimes soli are just there to show the musicians talent and aren't fitting into the song. But here it works perfectly. With The Blind Leader they recorded another highlight. Kicking off thrashy they become real black metal just to get very melodic - but still heavy. A masterpiece. But they can also convince when they slow down. Tempi changes make it interesting and partly the words are whispered. Sounds great. And it ain't lack heaviness.
Last, but not least they offer a cover version of Megadeth' Skin O' My Teeth. I have mixed feelings about that one. I would have expected something more in their own style, but they stick more to the original thrashy sound. It ain't bad and perhaps doing it their own way wouldn't have work out...
After 8 of their own ones this cover is... different. Anyway, more then 40 minutes of melodic black'n'death. This album surprised me and I hope that they can do even better next time. Thumbs up!


9 stars

Peter Haber
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)
 

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