Kalmah – 12 Gauge
Spinefarm Records

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Written by Niek of Deathmetalbaboon.com

Fins are crazy people! For one, they are the most death-searching rally drivers (look up the video of Ari Vatanen on Pikes Peak!) on this chunk of earth. For two, about 95 percent of the population digs metal. And for three, around 94 percent of ‘em is active in a metal band. That’s crazy in the good way and you won’t hear me complaining! Kalmah is one of Finland’s great melodeath bands and some crazy Fin came up with the term “Swamp Metal” for their stuff. Always looking to be different those Fins.

The band has been active for just over ten years now and in that time they turned out a good six full-length albums. That’s an excellent rate if you ask me. Their last one, 12 Gauge, got out earlier this year. So, what have we got?

The short answer is: a pretty decent album. Traditionally, what you get with Kalmah are a thrashy guitar feel (their previous album was an exception in this respect), a bunch of neo-classical key work, alternating or battling guitar-keyboard solos and some of the best composed acoustic tracks you can possibly imagine. The bad news is that that last thing will have to be missed on 12 Gauge. There is some acoustic stuff, but it’s all short and all part of more. The good news is that you do get the other stuff again.

And especially those keyboard vs. guitar solos are worth the decrease in hearing capacity you’ll end up with when you play this. And your hearing capacity will drop, because you’ll be cranking up the volume. Luckily Kalmah has been smart enough not to stuff every track with such a solo section. For one, it would take the sting out of it and secondly it’s better for our ears!

Kalmah’s 12 Gauge is definitely recommended to those that have enjoyed Kalmah’s The Black Waltz (2006), the album before the last one. It is also definitely worth the try for everyone else with a taste for quality melodic Death Metal. (And be sure to check out all their previous work as well!)

Dark Tranquillity – We Are the Void
Century Media

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Written by Niek of Deathmetalbaboon.com

We Are the Void is already the ninth album of these fathers of Swedish melodeath, a.k.a. the Gothenburn style. Their previous one was Fiction and was released in 2007. We Are the Void has been baptized to be the second part of a duology in which Fiction was part 1. And what do you get with sequels?

Yep, more of the same, usually not as well performed either (Terminator 2 being the exception). Thus, if you liked Fiction, don’t buy this one and keep your memories pure. If you’re a diehard Dark Tranquillity fan, then you surely will buy this album. The key then is to employ it for the right moods. This is no stuff for when you’re in the good mood, because it’ll slow you down. Instead, play this when your cat just got mangled by an SUV or something.

The piano parts on this album don’t add much in terms of emotion. It’s all very flat and simplistic, as if it were a rhythm guitar. Waste of a good piano, because a whole lot could have been achieved with it on this album. The music lends itself well for that.

Still, there are a few enjoyable tracks on the record. Tune in to Dream Oblivion, Iridium and Star of Nothingness and you’ll have the best songs of the album in your ears. The rest is pretty much void.

My favorite tracks: Dream Oblivion and Iridium.

Solution .45 – For Aeons Past
AFM Records

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Written by Niek of Deathmetalbaboon.com

Solution .45 is the joining of forces of musical talents of several Swedish Death Metal bands, making this a genuine metal supergroup. The project was founded by masterminds Jani Stefanovic (Miseration, Essence of Sorrow, The Few Against Many, and many other bands) and Christian Älvestam, best know as the former Scar Symmetry multi-style vocalist half the metal world adores. With that in mind, it’s not a surprise that my (and anybody else’s) expectations for the group’s debut release were sky high.

Unfortunately, anticipation is a big spoiler, because expectations grow bigger and bigger in your head. Solution .45 knew this when they set out and so they must have had a pretty good amount of confidence in their own abilities that they would be able to pull this off. So, have they?

Well, not completely. True, the supply of musical talent within this group is indisputable, as are Älvestam vocal capabilities. The man can make any mainstream, popular or whatever other type musician feel like an utter zero and then seamlessly provide a bombardment of growling, grunting violence without blinking. And he knows it! That then is exactly the problem, as his clean vocals on For Aeons Past not infrequently tend towards sugar-pop, with too much scale singing and pitch changing. Beyoncé does it too and she annoys the hell out of me.

His growls and grunts on the other hand are superb as they’ve always been. And they come in countless subtle variations too, which is all the better. So, skip the ballad Lethean Tears and instead listen to the more violent tracks, such as Wirethrone. Much better!

Musically this album is very much virtuoso, yet well balanced, despite the fact that it often feels much too polished. There are more than a few cheesy, ‘kitchy’ melodies to be found, but the majority of tunes is quite appealing.

So, lose your expectations. Expect nothing and you’ll get a few not-so-good songs and a bunch of good ones. One of those is of course the more than sixteen-minute Clandestinity Now, which is an absolute masterpiece. That alone will justify your spendings on this release!

My favorite tracks: On Embered Fields Adust and Clandestinity Now.