Keep of Kalessin

Armada

Tabu 2006

The first two Keep of Kalessin albums did absolutely nothing for me.  So why should this album be any different?  I am not sure if it really is.  I saw Keep of Kalessin live with Carpathian Forest and some others and decided after their killer performance I decided that their new album should be given a chance so I picked it up that night, and here is what I discovered.  Crown of the Kings starts off really well with a fast paced epic riff and then kind of works its way into some Mayhem sounding disharmonic riffs that then give way to an almost symphonic section.  On The Black Uncharted we are treated to the same sort of combination in a different order and also clean vocals come into the mix before falling off into an acoustic guitar and more epic black metal riffing.  The production on Armada is slick as hell with everything almost bordering on sounding plastic.  Everything sounds so clean.  Armada really tries hard to pull me in and I almost fall for it sometimes because these guys seem like they are right on the verge of writing some really good tunes but for now I get a little bored and distracted by the end of this album.  I mean it is good and solid but it is not outstanding.  It is mainly stuff I have heard before and I guess there is a reason that the first two albums didn't really grab me.  I feel bad for saying this about the album though because I really want to like it but in the end it is just an average release for me.