Kammen

When I read in the previous review of Kammen that the album was supposed to have a heavy Katatonia influence, I was very excited, as Katatonia are one of my favorite bands of all time. Then I realized upon listening that Wyrd have been slowly heading in this direction ever since releasing the critically acclaimed Vargtimmen Pt 2. Based on what I've been able to hear of follow up albums "Rota" and "The Ghost Album" Kammen should not come as much of a surprise to anyone.

What does drag the album down a bit is not the doom influence Wyrd has slowly but surely integrated into their music but the fact that many of the songs off this 65 minute epic overstay their welcome. Opener "The Hounds Of The Falls" for example, features a pretty incredible riff, but is repeated over and over, while Narqath barks the words "the hounds of the falllllls!" about a hundred times. This would have been a cool headbangable opener had the song been trimmed to about six minutes, but instead extends to over ten. Another culprit is "October", one of the few songs that could have come from one of the "Vargtimmen" albums. It too feels dragged out. Oddly enough the eighteen minute epic "Rajalla" feels like its the perfect length! The song never bores, mixing beautiful acoustic guitars with the old traditional Wyrd sound.

Other highlights include "The Last Time", a song about being miserable and trying to convince yourself to try to live one last time before dying. Sounds like a few Katatonia lyrics I've heard before. Also, Soulburn, the closer, represents the heaviest tune on the release.

It must be said that in spite of all the criticisms, Kammen sounds like Wyrd and Wyrd alone, and that indeed is a good thing.