My first glimpse of Keep of Kalessin‘s name was on a press release from Nuclear Blast. I popped the name to one side to check out for this very article. Which I’m now doing. So there.
KoK are from Norway and started off as a black metal band, over time adding a more orchestral/melodic tone and settling more into the generic “extreme metal” catch-all. They’ve been going for close to twenty years with a couple of short breaks within that time.
They do have quite a history with members joining and leaving, the most notable one being long-standing guitarist Obsidian C. taking over vocal duties as of this year for their new EP Introspection.
I’m quite taken with their sound. The speed of the music doesn’t create something harsh, especially as they’ve smoothed the rougher edges with keyboards and so on. While some extreme metal is pretty much a minority taste, what I’ve heard of KoK is quite accessible.
Additional info? You guessed it – on their fartface page.
