“Dark Divinity:” Keep of Kalessin Keep Ripping Out the Proggy Black Metal Jams

People got pretty pissed last week when I mentioned in a post about German black metallers Der We Einer Freiheit that I didn’t think the past few years had been particularly fruitful for black metal. Sure, there have been plenty of solid black metal albums released in the past four or five years, but during the great black metal explosion of 2008-2010 a new, forward-thinking black metal album was smashing my mind just about every month. Seemed like I couldn’t even go and take a shit without some band from Western Canada or Norway crapping out a friggin’ masterpiece. Perhaps part of that was my own interaction/history with the genre, but I still feel like those years were just insane.

Part of that was the rise of Keep of Kalessin, whose fourth full-length Kolossus really broke through and took the band to the next level. FOR FUCK’S SAKE, THAT ALBUM! Totally turned black metal on its head by saying, “Hey you, black metal elitists, we can be frosty and grim as fuck AND play the crap out of our instruments. Eat it!” Everything the band’s done since has been good (one full-length and an EP), but IMO they haven’t matched Kolossus. Again, that opinion probably has a lot to do with when I first got into the band; I acknowledge this.

Turns out Keep of Kalessin released a brand new album called Epistemology YESTERDAY! Yeesh, I totally snoozed on it, my bad. But “Dark Divinity,” which premiered at CrypticRock.com, is totally fabulous. The band is now a three-piece — guitarist/keyboardist Arnt “Obsidian C.” Grønbech now handles vocals — but their core sound is remarkably intact. Check it out below.

Epistemology is out now. Order it here.