KALMAH – 12 Gauge CD
Spinefarm Records
Imagine if you will AMON AMARTH with keyboards and at least one Amott brother on lead guitar. That’s what is on the menu here for your listening and thrashing pleasure. But KALMAH is not Swedish, instead they hail from a place called Oulu, Finland. Their bio mentions the northern swamps of Finland as well and there’s a cut on here called “Swampwar”. If you wanna simplify things their sound is swamp metal by way of Gothenburg. KALMAH have been around since 1999 and this is their six full length. Since this is my first time listening to em I have nothing to go on as far as their past works are concerned. Still when it comes to the melodic death metal genre you really have to bust out of the seams in order to be recognized as something more than just another Gothenburg influenced band. Thankfully KALMAH actually do that in various ways to keep things interesting. First off there’s the vocals which vary from time to time with death grunt/growls to blackened harsh ala CHILDREN OF BODOM. Speaking of which if you’ve been waiting patiently for Alex Laiho to actually release something decent again why not switch over to KALMAH. They’ve got the cool guitar and keyboard soloing with thrash riffs wrapped in death’s grip. With all those elements plus songs with tough melodies, these Finns add fresh rubber to a much worn genre wheel.
www.spinefarm.fi
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