Review Summary: Kalmah plays good melodeath. That's all that really needs to be said.
On any given discussion about the Finnish melodic death metal act Kalmah, there’s bound to be a comparison or reference to Children of Bodom (or COB for short) thrown in somewhere, which is how I first heard of the band. While it’s nearly impossible to not see the influence that COB had on Kalmah, they are a totally different and possibly better band. They’re just as epic sounding, if not more. Not to mention Kalmah hasn’t become just another mediocre melodeath band yet. Swamplord is Kalmah’s debut album and it definitely defined them as a band; what they sounded like, what they wanted to do, and how they wanted to do it. It’s the most typical Kalmah album but it is by no means the worst.
This album is three things above all; it’s epic, it’s dark, and it’s most definitely melodic death metal. The fun, fast riffs they put over the pounding drum beats get the blood flowing better than most melodeath. The album doesn’t rely on speed, though, because they can go from blistering fast to a lot more mellow and powerful almost effortlessly. That can’t be an easy transition to make. One of the first things one will notice about the album is that it’s more sinister sounding than a standard melodeath fan may be used to. Whether it be the keyboards or the slower passages, parts of the album do sound fairly evil.
The three members of a melodeath band that really matter are the vocalist, the lead guitarist, and the drummer. All three are fantastic in this album. The vocalist has his standard mid-ranged growls which I noticed sound more mature but somewhat less unique than COB’s vocals. I’m kind of disappointed that there’s not much vocal variation, because the vocalist’s lows, such as the ones displayed in “Alteration” are fantastic. The lead guitarist doesn’t feature many shredding solos, but he gives the music the melody and catchiness that gives an album replay value. The drummer, much like the guitarist, isn’t very technical but that’s not what Kalmah is about. While there’s no really impressive fills, all the drum patterns are the best they could have chosen to put behind the riffs. The keyboards are used very well also, it’s too bad they’re used as infrequently as they are; I think they could’ve had some good moments with them. You don’t really hear much from the other members of the band, but I’m sure without them the music would seem empty. They serve they’re purpose, even if it’s just to follow along.
Kalmah play epic, powerful, fun melodeath. They have great ideas, a great sound and a great overall feel, but there’s only so much you can do with it. It can get repetitive after a while. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. At least they picked something good to repeat. Some of the songs don’t flow together all that well and they don’t introduce anything new to the genre, but you know what? They do a damn good job doing what they do. “Oh, they’re just COB clones, it’s just generic melodeath, we’ve heard it all before.” You can say all that as much as you want. At least they don’t suck. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll find this to be a fun and interesting release. If you’re not, this album won’t change your mind. Haters gonna hate.
Recommended Tracks:
Heritance of Berija
Black Roija
Hades
