Keep of Kalessin
Obsidian Claw – Guitar
1. Who are some of you guitar influences? Who are some influences overall for the band’s sound?
It’s really hard to pinpoint anything because I’m influenced by so many different things, but when it comes to guitarists I would say that I’ve been influenced by Slash, Mark Knopfler, James Hetfield, Zakk Wylde, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray since I started playing guitar.
The band is inspired by much of the same like Guns ‘n’ Roses, Metallica, and Iron Maiden and the early Black metal bands to movies and computer games. And anything fantasy or sci-fi.
2. Where does the name Keep of Kalessin come from?
It’s taken from a book series about Earthsea written by Ursula Le Guin. Where Kalessin is the eldest and most powerful dragon.
3. How do you feel about the current, full-time line-up for KoK?
It’s great! Finally, we have a solid and powerful line-up. I’ve been looking for this kinda line-up for many years and it’s very satisfying to finally have people that are focused and hard working and also have amazing individual skills. I think this is one of the best line-ups from Norway these days when it comes to musical skills.
4. How was your experience with the short lived line-up including Frost (Satyricon) and Attila Csihar (MAYHEM)?
At the time it was great and it was a very unique atmosphere at that time. However, I also see that it was necessary to get new people in the band that was 100% dedicated to Keep Of Kalessin. But I definitely have great memories from recording the EP.
5. What feelings/attitude went into writing Kolossus?
We wanted to create an album that was even more epic and melodic than Armada and I think that it worked out pretty well. The album has a lot more variation as well and many different moods that the listener goes through. I think the album as a whole feels much more like a journey than Armada and that was also the intention. It’s also more organic sounding which I think is great. It gives the album more atmosphere and a unique feeling.
6. With Kolossus being KoK’s fourth full length album, what are you thoughts on the final product for the album and the success of the band overall?
I think the final product was very much as I intended and I’m very happy with that. When you do an album, there is always some things that are not as good as you hoped for, but also stuff that is even better than you imagined before you started recording the album.
It’s also great to finally see some recognition for this band that I’ve been working with for such a long time now. I always knew we had potential, but we weren’t able to really nail it before Armada and that album really did a lot for us. But I still think we have a long way to go and we also have a lot more potential on recording some really unique Metal, so it will be interesting to see how far we can get.
7. Do you think you had an advantage recording the album in your own studio instead of an outside studio?
It’s both pro’s and con’s when you record in your own studio. It’s a good thing that you have enough time to experiment with different things, but it can also be hard to keep the spirit up for 3-4 months in the studio. Suddenly you start to question the material and think everything sounds like sh*t and the next day you think it sounds awesome again. Hehe. You kinda lose track of where you are in the process until you suddenly start seeing the light in the end of the tunnel.
If you record in another studio it’s easy just to record your instrument and be finished with it to let the producer do his work. I think that can be a relief sometimes, but I also like being a part of the whole process from start to finish.
8. How would you compare Kolossus to past albums and EPs?
I think it’s a bigger album. What I mean by that is that it’s the kind of album you should listen to from start to finish and really embrace it as a varied musical journey. It’s not supposed to be ultra dark or the most brutal thing out there. It’s supposed to take you to bright moments and dark moments. I think a lot of the Black metal fans don’t realize this. I wouldn’t call Kolossus Black metal anyway so it really doesn’t matter, but it’s definitely not your traditional underground album. It’s something totally different and there’s not a band on this globe that sounds like it. And that’s the most important thing to me. It’s also an album that needs time, but when you give it time it will grow like a tumor that you won’t get rid of.
9. What are your thoughts on the rest of the Black metal scene (including bands such as Satyricon, Behemoth, and Dimmu Borgir)?
I think there are some good bands and a lot of bad ones. The biggest ones are usually the best ones as well, but I think the whole Black metal scene has a sickness in the underground. Wannabe true people that don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. Black metal is about individualism and doing your own thing, not following the rules or norms of a scene!
10. What does the future hold for Keep of Kalessin?
A lot of touring and we’ll also be back in America in Oct/Nov and will also have a new album out in 2009! So it’s gonna be busy, busy.
