Entry 093 - Keep of Kalessin - Armada

 

I remember going into Tower Records in the mid 2000's and saw the CD of this sitting in their newly created metal section. I liked the cover then so it was a blind buy for me. This is easily one of those records that I was not prepared for when I first put it on.

Keep of Kalessin consistently flirts with perfection for me. They create a few songs on an album that are flawless or close to it. Typically this is only a few moments in the album with the rest not living up to that potential. Armada is different.

Armada sees the band realize their full potential. These songs are exceptional - there is not a weak track on here. Instead of ranging from okay to excellent, here we range from excellent to perfection.

The Crown of the Kings remains one of my favorite openers regardless of genre. It just slays. The speed at which the riffs and drumming are executed are truly impressive. The acoustic breakdown of The Black Uncharted is unexpected at first listen and provides an amazing change of pace. The drumming on Vengeance Rising is so fast its become an internet meme.

Then there is The Wealth of Darkness. This song is not only the best song on the album, its one of my favorite black metal songs ever composed. The track builds and builds until the chorus where it explodes into an incredible passage of melody and clean vocals. The combination still gives me goosebumps 15 years later.

Is Keep of Kalessin pure black metal? Probably not. They would experiment with their sound later on with various degrees of success. But here, on this album - this is where they had it all figured out.