Band:	Kaleikr
Album:	Heart Of Lead
Style:	Black metal, Progressive death metal
Release date:	February 15, 2019
A review by:	RaduP

01. Beheld At Sunrise
02. The Descent
03. Of Unbearable Longing
04. Internal Contradiction
05. Neurodelirium
06. Heart Of Lead
07. Eternal Stalemate And A Never-Ending Sunset

The Icelandic black metal scene has been all the rage for the past few years. Cosmic, dissonant, melodic, you name it. But it feels like the death metal side of things has been pretty much ignored. Kaleikr can still be somewhat called black metal, but they feel like a denser Icelandic black metal version of Opeth. And more.

Up until listening to this album, I had no fucking idea that Draugsól is no more, which is quite a bummer. I don't know whether Kaleikr ought to be considered a new band or a continuation under a new name, but two of the three Draugsól members are now in Kaleikr, namely drummer Kjartan Harðarson and everythingelser Maximilian Klimko. And there're some slight changes to the Draugsól (and the general Icelandic black metal) formula at play here.

The biggest presence of the death metal side is felt in the vocals, which are closer to the usual death growls than what is usually used in black metal, and they're partly responsible for the Opeth comparison. Also partly responsible are the virtuosic performance and the progressive songwriting, which make the album border on tech death sometimes, and that, depending on whom you ask, is a good thing or a bad thing. But Kaleikr don't just add technicality for the hell of it; it makes Heart Of Lead feel closer to something like heavier Enslaved or Ihsahn moments, only much denser and almost reaching post-metal territories of atmosphere emphasis, so don't worry about it sounding too much like something you've heard before.

There's still plenty of that usual dissonance one can expect, but it's not overly used, and when it is, it feels like an extra flavour to the already spicy recipe. There's a fantastic ebb and flow to the whole album that manages to strike a pretty solid balance between emphasis on atmosphere and emphasis on melodies, so much so that it makes Heart Of Lead both a compelling listen and one with a lot of replayability. More often than not, those ambient intros feel more like intros that are necessary but you'd rather skip since they don't really do much; here it was the first time in quite a while that I heard those first few notes and I was instantly in love with it. The cinematic quality still resonates slightly through the rest of the record, either in how colossal it sometimes sounds or through the occasional viola solos (played by Árni Bergur Zoëga of Árstíðir lífsins and Carpe Noctem fame).

I review a lot of stuff that I love, but only a few ever leave such a lasting impression on me. Heart Of Lead is not flawless, but it succeeds where a lot of others fail, where it feels like all the pieces fit together like magic and it both is instantly impactful and also has room to grow with further listens. Take the journey from sunrise to everlasting sunset.