A Norwegian black metal outfit revolving around guitarist and songwriter Obsidian C. (once a touring guitarist for Satyricon), Keep of Kalessin have even had such luminaries as Frost and Attila Csihar in their ranks. Reunited with the original drummer, Vyl, and having a new lead vocalist, Thebon, with Armada they are here to claim their place in the Norwegian black metal elite. Which is a valid goal, not unreachable for them, and they are almost there – about two thirds of the album, to be precise.

Building their expression on contrasts between hyperspeed thrash and Swedish-styled black, Keep of Kalessin's trademark are alternations between palm-muted and legato speed-picking guitar parts, and they successfully manage to make them sound coherent without too many resemblances to the dreaded neither-here-nor-there black / death category.

To say that they are fast would be an understatement, just listen to the beginning of "Vengeance Rising" and count nearly 20 bass drum beats per second. The blastbeats rarely go below eight snare drum beats per second and on "The Wealth of Darkness," Vyl keeps the constant blasting speed throughout the song and even does tom rolls with one hand while the other one plays the ride cymbal – yes, during a blastbeat. We don't see many lunatics of that kind around. Obsidian C. has no problems in keeping up with Vyl, and exhibits a barrage of cold, hateful and majestic riffs with enviable technical ability. They are not just thrown in at random, either – some riffs are obvious straight away but some make sense only in conjunction with others.

Thrashy parts accentuate the black metal parts and vice versa, and the songs have a logical and natural progression in spite of the speed and their length, which sometimes stretches over seven minutes. Thebon's singing is another bonus – screaming, singing, preaching, shouting, melodic screaming (yes, really), growling and whatever is necessary to take the songs to another level of brutality.

And as long as Keep of Kalessin are keeping it fast and brutal, all is well. But when they try to slow down there are problems. The fifth track, "Many Are We" was probably meant to be a crowd-rallying song, but it only sounds like a NWOBHM song with a couple of blasts. It's followed by "Winged Watcher," with a too obvious slow riff repeated and rehashed too many times, with some variations and thus ruining the melodic ending that could've been epic. "Into the Fire" even has some metalcore riffs around a frightening black metal part, which also could have been great if it wasn't in the same song.

"Deluge," a nice interlude with distorted guitar over the sounds of wind, burning fire and some church bells (we're not implying anything here, really) brings some relief and leads Armada back to brutality... and then some. "The Wealth of Darkness" is a blastfest of mesmerising, threatening cold riffs and a punishing chorus but the last, title track is simply triumphant. Seven and a half minutes of constant waves of adrenalin rushes, "Armada" is the best song Dark Funeral never wrote, one of the best black metal songs EVER and if all of the others were that good Lucifer would probably grow another pair of wings. Not even the inadequate sound can spoil it...

...and the sound leaves a lot to be desired. The guitars sound like they have been overproduced and overpolished, and then re-recorded through a blanket, in other words there's no crispiness in the high end and the result is not very black metal. Overall, the sound has been compressed to the midrange with very little bass or treble for any instrument or the vocals, and furthermore the triggered drum sound is synthetic and lifeless to the point of making blastbeats sound boring (I can't believe I've just said that).

Ranging from unnecessary to utterly glorious, Armada leaves an impression of underachievement. With fewer songs and a more suitable sound it could have been a magnificently shorter CD, but it's still well worth checking out. Maybe they'll make it closer to the elite with their next release. (7/10)

review by: Roberto Martinelli

Damn it. Mladen’s points are right on the money, and yet I’d recommend this more highly. You have to understand it’s because Keep of Kalessin is one of those bands that you might have that you consider your well-kept secret, that seemed to have only spoken to you where it should have set the rest of the world on fire. It’s one of mine, like Thy Primordial and Taake.

Armada is not Keep of Kalessin’s best record. It’s their best sounding and executed record, but for this reviewer’s black metal coin, it’s Agmen all the way. The harshness and vitriol in that album’s sound is hyperspeed black metal bliss/agony, propelled by the same ubermenschian drums on Armada, but presented with more convincingly cult moxie, carried along by a ride cymbal that sounds like a million machete chops per second, into oblivion. And unlike Armada, Agmen builds to one of the most fittingly intense, pressure-then-release endings in metal CD history, right up there with Meshuggah’s climax to Chaosphere.

But this review is about Armada, a fine record by its own right. Perhaps indeed strangely and inappropriately metalcore in places, the sound is superb and perfectly biting and full. Perhaps that’s the problem, because if you perceive black metal as being cold and harsh, you won’t be able to swallow this album as being a proper part of the genre. It’s extreme, raging, and features melodies that, beyond being right at home with the genre it purports to be a part of, are actually nothing short of signature once you become familiar with this band’s work.

So what Armada ends up being is any number of the following:

– An album that makes you wonder where the hell this band came out of, all of a sudden.

– An album that seems like a damn good shot at eternal greatness, but isn’t quite there.

– An album that makes you happy that this well-kept extreme metal powerhouse is still going at it.

Combining the three through checking out Keep of Kalessin’s entire discography makes Armada’s end result all the sweeter. (8/10)