You know when Disney launches one of their movies – say,
Hercules – and then weeks later there’s a load of crappy direct-to-video ripoffs of said movie? All of them portray more or less the same story, however, none of them has that certain something that made the master copy so special.
The same, to some extent, can be said of music. It’s common knowledge that, when a certain formula works, a zillion bands are sure to try and repeat it, never quite achieving the same success. It happened in the 80’s with hair metal, in the 90’s with nu-metal and it’s happening again, this time with metalcore. Yet, this trend is by no means exclusive of mainstream music : more underground or marginal genres have also had their «trends». One of the most noticeable was the one that started after Children Of Bodom achieved international success with their second album
Hatebreeder. Immediately, dozens of bands started popping up off the ground recreating the sound that alexi Laiho and Co. had rendered famous. Eternal Tears of Sorrow were the first, and Kalmah were a close second.
Actually, the best way to describe Kalmah would probably be through yet another comparison, this time to wrestling. Let’s say that, if Kalmah were wrestlers, they’d be second-generation wrestlers, and their parenting figure would be Children Of Bodom. And just like Randy Orton is arguably not as good as Cowboy Bob Orton, so Kalmah are not quite as good as their seniors.
But don’t get me wrong ; Kalmah
are a good band. They mix black, death, thrash and power metal in a very apt and interesting way. The problem is they let their influences show too much. As soon as the first track,
Evil InYou, starts to play, we are immediately set to the «CoB» frequence. Everything reeks of Bodom, from the tight riffing to the frequent keyboard sweeps. However, as much as it resembles Bodom, there’s still that certain something missing. Perhaps it’s the fact that Antti Kokko and Pasi Hiltula are no Alexi Laiho and Janne Warman, or perhaps it’s just that the imitation is a tad too blatant. Proof enough of this is that, as the record progresses and Kalmah manage to stave off their influences, the songs get much better.
Actually, it would be unfair to dismiss Kalmah as mere Children Of Bodom clones. The band display other influences, such as black metal or even Bay Area thrash, and, in subsequent spins, we start to discover slight distinctive touches in the group’s music. For example, the keyboards on this record are a bit more low-key than on CoB albums ; Pekka Kokko’s solos are much more classical than Laiho’s, often showcasing Maiden influences ; and Antti Kokko’s vocals are somewhat more guttural and varied than Laiho’s, coming closer to death metal than to black. Furthermore, in the latter stages of the album, the CoB influence is not as visible (actually, it’s only really evident in the first two tracks, and then in the last one,
Use The Word. On
Hades there are traces of it, too, but they’re mixed in with other influences. Then there are songs like the brutally beautiful
Dance Of The Water, which is clearly reminiscent of both Withering Surface, lyrically, and something like Cradle Of Filth or early Katatonia, musically. All in all, it’s these tracks that really win the listener over, because they showcase a personality and writing ability that is the band’s own, rather than being copied from someone else.
In the long run, then, Kalmah manage to distance themselves somewhat from the horde of CoB followers. Unlike bands such as Norther – to cite but the best-known example – they show more than one influence, and the truth is they are capable of writing good, catchy, attractive songs. Even when the Bodom influence comes to the surface, the band never sound like a second-rate carbon copy of said band (although they’re not quite in the same league, either). Furthermore, we must consider that [b]Swamplord was only Kalmah’s first album, and that therefore there was a long margin of progression. This having been said, I recommend this album to all those of you who were enticed by Children Of Bodom’s peculiar blend of death/black/thrash/power metal, and want something similar. If you find yourself in that situation, give this one a go – it’s bound to appeal to you.
Reccomended Tracks
Evil In You
Black Rouija
Hades
