Kalmah - Swamplord review
| Band: | Kalmah |
| Album: | Swamplord |
| Style: | Melodic death metal, Extreme power metal |
| Release date: | December 2000 |
| Guest review by: | Immortalist |
01. Evil In You
02. Withering Away
03. Heritance Of Berija
04. The Black Roija
05. Dance Of The Water
06. Hades
07. Alteration
08. Using The Word
When it comes to melodic death metal, Kalmah are a band not known by too many people. And for those people who know them there are a lot of different opinions. They are often compared to CoB and Norther because of the clear facts that make these bands stand out somehow: One, they are all from Finland and two, they all play melodic death metal. Anyone who has bothered taking a look still knows the differences between bands and describing them here would be impossible, a song can tell you more than thousand words.
Now to the album? this one is their first release with, yes, originality. They definitely are not a Bodom rip-off or anything.
Musically the album contains a lot of heavy and incredibly good riffs, as this kind of bands usually should to make the music powerful. Immediately the opening track "Evil in You" shows the power of the guitars and greatly written percussion. One of the best things in this band is definitely the vocalist, because if there is something that makes them original then it's him. Another plus for the album goes to the keyboards, they are definitely not overused but give some of the songs extra strength, even a bit of a heroic feeling from time to time.
This album definitely doesn't lose its touch when you listen to it, there is something for everyone. Unfortunately this also creates a problem: when there is something for everyone, there is always something that someone doesn't like. For instance, some people find the song "Black Roija" boring and others love it.
All in all this album was definitely not a bad investment for me, and it won't be for you even if you like this genre a little bit. However, I also want to point out that if you are new to this band then you should possibly try Swampsong before this record. From the objective side this is definitely a better album than Swamplord.
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
9.3
9.3
|
Rating: 9.3 |
It's been almost 20 years since the release of this masterpiece and Swamplord still sounds as fresh as if it had been released yesterday. I'm familiar with almost all of Kalmah's albums and I can definitely say this is one of my favorites. The lead guitar is present in every song almost at all times without getting repetitive. I remember that when I first checked it out, I thought it was going to be difficult for the band to keep doing it in all their albums. In fact, they stopped, probably for different reasons, but they keep producing great material using a similar formula. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 14
Visited by: 201 users
| Fane Posts: 292  |
Swamplord was first CD what I heard from Kalmah and it rocks always!! Awesome album. And that copying is shit. These have own style and dont sound to CoB or Norther. I would give 9.5 points but its opinion question. Good review.
---- Coffee for power Music for creativity Sarcasm for fun
Loading...
|
| Slottet av Take Account deleted |
Slottet av Take
Account deleted
8/10?? Such a lack of respect  (joke) This is an absolute KILLER of an album...one of my top 10 favorite albums of all time without a doubt. What impresses me most about this album (and basically all Kalmah albums) are the fantastic original and energetic melodies these guys always seem to come up with. And if there still exists idiots who STILL think theyre Children of Bodom rip-offs then you can lick my hairy hole because eversince this album was releases Kalmah has owned Children of Bodom totally and completely... As the clever gentleman above has stated....I also give this a 9.5/10
Loading...
|
| northerfreak Account deleted |
Loading...
|
| Sidragasum Account deleted |
|
| Immortalist Knarrenheinz Posts: 1091  |
Thank you for the feedback, I'd still like to point out that when writing a review one has to make a lot of decisions between being informative/descriptive about the music, giving out as objective opinios/as subjective opinions as possible and so on. When I wrote the review I know I could have done better when writing, however, I tried to be as objective as possible and gave the rating according to that. You must remember that Kalmah have never succeeded to create any sort of special status around them. In fact, they have just been gaining more and more publicity recently (quite rapidly too) so that is also one of the reasons for not giving this album the full score. Also, for me any album that is somehow extreme it will take something special to give it a 10/10 or a 9.5/10, when speaking objectively of course.
Loading...
|
| Cock_Spit Account deleted |
|
| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
I think this is probably my favorite Kalmah album...cold, melodic, deppressive and the music literally sucks me from their best song IMO evil in you.
Loading...
|
| Danny Thomas Posts: 552  |
this one and swampsong are constantly in my cd player, and it never gets old, seriosuly, they are masterpieces are far as im concerned. i'd give both of them about a 9.4, which is much more proper rating than an 8
---- Our children are dead. Burnt in the ruins that were left by war.
Loading...
|
| MetalISTasty Account deleted |
|
| BurbotsRevenge Foetal Butchery Posts: 1603  |
This is one of the greatest extreme power / meldoic death (watever) metal albums of all time - the guitars, growls, drums, everytihng is just perfect  fav songs: Withering Away, alteration, hades and black roija! 
---- Dark death metal from Sydney: https://www.facebook.com/GolgothanRemains
Loading...
|
| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
By far the best release from Kalmah ever. There's nothing special or absolutly new about this work, but it is sure a very good melo-death album. The guitar lead is beautiful, the harmony and brutality are equalized, making the balance perfect. No complains for the vocals also. Didn't see any problem with "Black Roija" 
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
Loading...
|
| Passe Posts: 21 |
|
| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62135  |
CoB and this diference is small teenage girls are not in crush of from man in this case
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
|
| tintinb Posts: 2053 |
Hits total: 10900 | This month: 11