Kalmah by Kalmah | Album Review
Time can’t drain this swamp.
- Genre: Melodic Death Metal
- Members: Pekka Kokko, Antti Kokko, Timo Lehtinen, Janne Kusmin, Veli-Matti Kananen
- Length: 44 Minutes
- Label: Ranka Kustannus
- Released: 2023
All Hail the Swamplords
Somewhere around 20 years ago, a very high school-era me was loitering in the basement of That Friend.
Every metalhead hopefully knows what I’m talking about: they either were or knew such a divine human. They who are tasked with delivering us into the diverse world of metal. Tool, Static-X, Hammerfall, Symphony X; these, and countless others he proffered to my ears.
But, while each made its own mark on me, there’s one band above all that I can point to with certainty and say, “This changed the way I hear music.”
The band: Kalmah. The album: 2003s Swampsong.
It became my gateway into death metal, a previously spurned genre. Something about the epic flavoring of opening track “Heroes to Us,” with its unforgettable lead, or the powerful, piano-led closer “Moon of My Nights,” and the undeniable melodies at work within every track between; it all hewed close to my sensibilities while offering a vicious taste of what death metal stood capable of. And though I would occasionally lose sight of Kalmah over the subsequent years, they nonetheless remained a must-listen whenever I heard of a new album, which brings us to 2023 and their ninth release, Kalmah.
Kalmah is one of those bands that has remained wonderfully and steadfastly reliable over the years. I’m never worried when I stumble across a new offering. If anything, I’m more surprised to discover that they’re still writing music. They’ve never seemed to breach the thresholds of popularity, existing as one of those “if you know, you know” bands — and with five years between this and their 2018 effort, Palo, it felt all too possible that maybe they’d called it quits.
Yet, like another fave of mine, November’s Doom, they persist with a kind of stealth-level tenacity, refusing to be curtailed or cast aside by scene trends or popularity. They churn beneath the surface with unbreakable confidence, striving against any perceived odds to unleash tasty platters of epic, swamp-brined melo-death.
Kalmah continues this tradition of excellence; furious, thundering, threaded with epic melodies, the album rips out of the gate with “Haunted by Guilt,” an absolute rager that should remind any who’ve forgotten what these ferocious Finns are about. What follows is approximately 44 minutes of the same: face-shredding riffs, ear-worm leads, pounding rhythm work, and sparkling synths, with Pekka Kokko’s rumbling growls and lecherous rasps emerging from the cacophonous assault.
Occasionally, the band detours to slower, moodier waters [“No Words Sad Enough,” and the album closer “Drifting in a Dream”], but it’s nothing shocking — they haven’t turned in their blast beats for bongos. In fact, they sound positively energized here, their fire raging wild despite over two decades of existence. This is very much the Kalmah of old, and I am ecstatic about it.
It’s wild to think that I was 13 when Swampsong first enticed me into the world of death metal… and that at 33, Kalmah has dredged themselves up from the swamps to hand off a poignant refresher on why.
Technicality, brutality, speed, and pure, soul-crushing heaviness weren’t what drew me in. Kalmah’s epic, melodic offerings stirred in me a desire to explore. Their music taught me to find melody in a sound I thought was devoid of it and paved the way for my acceptance of music I might otherwise have continued to shun. It’s something I’ll always be grateful to my friend — and the band — for showing me. And while Kalmah doesn’t do much to shake up the group’s long-running style when it sounds this good, it doesn’t need to.
Kalmah are, and always will be, legends — one could even say heroes to me.
Originally published at Whims to Words on Aug. 9th, 2023
