Band:	Kna'an
Album:	First Impressions
Style:	Melodic death metal, Folk metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	August 2009

01. Va'Yehi (Let There Be) [Instrumental]
02. Genesis
03. The End Of Purity
04. Scarred Forever
05. One Single Speech
06. Sulfur Salvation
07. Binding Testament
08. The 12th Star
09. Slavery
10. Goldblind
11. Walk To The Mountain

It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while I receive an album to review from an unsigned band which makes me say ?Wow, this is damn good stuff!" and shake my head in disbelief at their lack of a record deal. First Impressions, the debut of Israelite quintet Kna'an is one of these few albums. While not a absolute must-have masterpiece either, this is an original release by a talented band and an all-round good effort.

The band mainly plays a mix of traditional melodic death metal and melodic black metal with clean and folky passages which borrow heavily from traditional Hebrew music. Most of the music has a strong progressive side to it and multiple vocalists and some guest keyboards and violin complete the package. The obvious first comparison should be progressive metalheads Orphaned Land and while they do share a lot of similarities, Kna'an take a more black-metal oriented and generally heavier and more straightforward course of action.

Production-wise this CD is surprisingly good for an unsigned band. Maybe it would have been too clean for most albums leaning heavily towards melo-death and black metal, it fits this one perfectly, allowing the folky passages as well as the great drumming to shine through perfectly.

I'll have to say it again. This is not quite yet a contestant for best CD of the year but it's still just a really fine album with almost no weaknesses at all. The extreme vocals are well-done, I like the solos a lot, the drumming is quite technical, non-extreme elements strewn about make the songs interesting to listen to and the diverse song-writing makes the duration of almost an hour no problem. Open-minded metalheads and also fans of Orphaned Land ought to give them a try.

These guys obviously have a lot of potential and I hope they'll be picked up by a record label soon because I'm very curious about what they will make of their potential on their second output.

Favourite track: 'Walk To The Mountain'