THE ALBUM OF THE DAY IS…
KALMAH, SWAMPSONG
I can’t decide whether or not I think Finland’s Kalmah are the best melodic death metal band ever, or just the best metal of all time period- and not just because the lead guitarist, Antti Kokko, has the best name of anyone on Earth who isn’t his brother, singer/guitarist Pekka Kokko. This album makes me wanna dance and headbang and have sex and destroy shit all at the same time, and I haven’t felt that confused about anything since I found out those weren’t chicks on the cover of Look What the Cat Dragged In. Like In Flames, Soilwork, or their countrymen Insomnium, Kalmah play music that’s painfully catchy while still managing to be more metal than the secret love child of King Diamond and that dude from Nitro with the silly guitars; but Kokko’s* gutteral vocals and Marco Sneck’s gothic keyboards (which, for better or worse, always bring to mind the music from that video game Castlevania) probably give them more of a black metal edge- but that just makes them seem a shitload more dangerous, which I like. I also really like that the second song is called “Burbots Revenge”- it’s not possessive (“Burbot’s”) but plural (“burbots”), which means we can’t assume the song is about a mighty Finlander (Finlandian?) named “Burbot” who is taking his revenge, but, rather, about the vendetta of a cod fish.**
Anyway, this album really, really rocks, and even as I type this while listening to it, I can’t stop bobbing my head up and down. Anyone who doesn’t like this album is a ree-ree.
-AR
*I just can’t say, type, or think about that name without giggling.
**Actually, a quick look at the song’s lyrics reveal that it is, indeed, about a fucking fish. The balls this band has.
Buy Swampsong
