Evyl

I’m now three records into my friendship with Keep of Kalessin. Well, we’re not really close friends but we hang out from time to time. I invite them along sometimes when I want people to hear what it’s like when a band employs a helicopter as its drummer.

It seems as though the bands music has gotten more, uh, billowy over the course of their releases? Blousy? Bloused? I’m not describing the bands wardrobe, just that the music has started to incorporate the more “symphonic” aspects of Norwegian symphonic Black Metal (symphonic, see: keyboards). Not that wardrobe should have any affect on how one listens to music but the fact that they don’t wear floor length leather trench-robes and platform disco clunker boots makes them almost “workman-like” when compared to some of their peers.

As for the music, think Dragonforce, but cool. I only use that comparison in the sense that a lot of their songs are actually about dragons and they’re executed with near impossible speed. That’s as far as it goes. The rest is an aggressive combination of high power-chorded shredded riffage.

It’s easy to listen to the first cut and start to think that you’ve heard it all before on their previous records but they’re always capable of tossing in parts that are irresistible. They’re a clever band with a knack for composing catchy parts that twist in ways which manage to give 8 minute songs an interesting flow.

As for Vyl, the drummer? I don’t know, man. He’s overwhelming.

Here’s a live video of Vyl jackhammering away. The sped-up dribbling basketball you hear is in fact his kick drums. It’s almost comedic. The inclusion of “Painkiller” is a nice touch.

Here’s the track The Awakening from the new album titled “Reptilian”. It’s pretty epic stuff. I also find it entertaining how the chorus is a kind of Black Metal tribute to The House of the Rising Sun (4:04 mark, if you’re impatient).