Swampsong

Around late 2004/early 2005 I was looking for good metal bands that I have not check out yet. One of those bands I found out about was Kalmah, i was lucky there first three albums were release in the states, I was able to pick up my first album from them which was "Swampsong" at a local record store.


When I first pop it in my cd player and first track "Heroes to Us" started to play I had a feeling that this cd was something special. I was right, it was just good straight forward metal, mixing of blackish style vocals with great Speed/Power Metal is a great combo. A lot of metal fans would say "oh great another Children of Bodom clone" well there wrong, even though they play the same style of music as Bodom Kalmah plays heavier then Bodom has been in last couple of years.


This album I think is one the best albums I own. Pekka does a great job on vocals standing out from other bands that play the same style, keyboardist at the time Pasi is well tune on were he fits the keyboard on tracks like "Burbot's Revenge" and "The Third, the Magical". Kokko brothers work well as guitarists, drumming is well put with double bass during different parts of each song. Bass works well within the tempo of this album. Amazing solos, good lyrics that aren't boring or repetitive.

Overall this album is good, the band works well to make them different from the metal they play. This is a pick up for fans of melodic death Metal or speed/power with harsh vocals. The tracks that I enjoy are "Heroes to us",''Burbot's Revenge", "The Third, the Magical" and "Cloned Insanity". If you're picking up the Japanese version, "Suodeth" is a good bonus track.