Kalmah - Swamplord review
| Band: | Kalmah |
| Album: | Swamplord |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Extreme power metal |
| Release date: | December 2000 |
01. Evil In You
02. Withering Away
03. Heritance Of Berija
04. The Black Roija
05. Dance Of The Water
06. Hades
07. Alteration
08. Using The Word
It's been almost 20 years since the release of this masterpiece and Swamplord still sounds as fresh as if it had been released yesterday. I'm familiar with almost all of Kalmah's albums and I can definitely say this is one of my favorites. The lead guitar is present in every song almost at all times without getting repetitive. I remember that when I first checked it out, I thought it was going to be difficult for the band to keep doing it in all their albums. In fact, they stopped, probably for different reasons, but they keep producing great material using a similar formula.
All the solos on the album are elaborate and technical; my personal pick would be the ones in "Evil In You" and "Hades." I think there is nothing wrong in admitting that Kalmah came out of this extreme power metal movement (formerly known as melodic death) started by Children Of Bodom. I can't say who created the sound, but I do know who released the first album, and that was COB. The musical style and weird (for those years) voice is similar in many of those Finnish extreme power bands. But let's face it - hasn't the same phenomenon occurred with every single genre? Aren't death metal bands from the same eras and regions similar? The answer is yes.
Getting back to the album, I think part of its success is due to the formula they used. It is a very easy album to listen to; there is nothing complicated or anything to analyze, just good music to enjoy. It is an album with short songs and fast, strong riffs and solos; the pace of the album is more or less the same from beginning to end (maybe "Black Roija" and "Dance Of The Water" turn down the tempo a little bit to raise it up again with "Hades").
Kalmah were there at the beginning of the extreme power metal movement; they are still present and we keep on enjoying their releases. The quality of their material hasn't been compromised throughout the years, and that is not something we can say about certain older extreme power metal bands (you know which band I mean).
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 9 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by The_Hellion | 27.10.2019
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
When it comes to melodic death metal, Kalmah are a band not known by too many people. And for those people who know them there are a lot of different opinions. They are often compared to CoB and Norther because of the clear facts that make these bands stand out somehow: One, they are all from Finland and two, they all play melodic death metal. Anyone who has bothered taking a look still knows the differences between bands and describing them here would be impossible, a song can tell you more than thousand words. Read more ›› |
Comments
| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 61050  |
Melodic death is seperete Gengre not formel know as, extreme power is other Gengre, at the gates is not same as cob
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''  apos;'[image] I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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