Keep Of Kalessin
Kolossus

Having reached their fourth album and with a résumé that speaks in their favor, at least regarding the reviews that the press has given the Norwegian formation over the course of three decades of recording life, Keep Of Kalessin (with past members including Frost and Attila Csihar) have never really received an enthusiastic reception from me. Even with their new work, "Kolossus", released two years after the previous "Amanda", they demonstrate an inability to add significant added value. Somewhere I've read that their interpretation of black metal could be considered "perfect", but "perfect" in the sense that it is the sum, or collation if you prefer, of what has already been composed and played in the black metal realm, and thus the "effort" made by the quartet does not go beyond re-presenting, in beautiful handwriting, the ideas of others and making them appealing, given that the expressive form conveyed is never wild, but always prefers to rely on melodies, perhaps epic and grandiose or of classical metal tradition, and here introduces what is the true defining element of the group in its current guise. In fact, for the majority of the nine songs, it is complicated to speak of black metal in the strict sense, because on more than one occasion, what dominates the scene are soundscapes that lie between power, Scandinavian death, considered speed, and orchestral and symphonic passages; sure, they wanted to give it a black coating, but not even too convincingly. An album meticulous in details, technically impeccable, but lacking in substance and abundant in appearance and all too predictable.