Spinefarm Records – 2010 – Finland
In 1999, founded by Pekka and Antti brothers, melodic death metal band Kalmah’s 6th studio album ’12 Gauge’ is with us. Including 9 new tracks and a Thin Lizzy cover, the album will be a new breath for the ones who have tired of melodic death metal. The album starts with ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ in an acoustic sound as an introduction, then elate you up in a nice way. Following the ‘One Of Fail’ ,as usual, makes you feel the dance of guitar and drum accompanied by keyboard. The 3rd song of the album perhaps will be one of the most remarkable tracks; ‘Bullets Are Blind’. Begins and ends with a catchy riff and also have a thrash solo makes the track enriched. And here, at this point if you say ‘yes, ı haven’t been listening melodic death but it felt good’, then get ready for the ‘Swampwar’ and ‘Better Not To Tell’. ‘Swampwar’ is a nice a work by it’s lyrics. And one of the catchy songs. Entering the fast solo in the middle of the track has created a very fun atmosphere. ‘Better Not To Tell’ enters with a great slow guitar, speeds up later. Even when you listen the track for the first time, just before it finishes you will start to mutter it. Drums are very succesful and in every track you can realise that these guys really paid attention on not to block guitars with the keyboard or not to strangle the track. And I think maybe that’s the reason why I enjoyed this album instead of the other melodic death metal bands did. ‘Hook The Monster’ and ‘Godeye’ catch up on the other tracks at full speed. ‘Godeye’ makes you feel the power of drums with continuous solids beats. Carries the same name with the album ’12 Gauge’, again enters with a slow, clean melody. But when we compared to other tracks, it feels like remaining in the background. ‘Sacramentum’ ends the album in a melancholic structure. But there is an extra track; when you listen Thin Lizzy cover ‘Cold Sweat’ ,really, you see that Kalmah succesfully adapted to it’s style, and that makes the track more enjoyable. Well ıt’s a full Kalmah album from top to bottom, and also ıt’s the Kalmah that you missed. It’s a breathless ,restless album. The solos in the tracks are so good that you can both feel the power and thrash metal. Vocals are really strong and tough. Came out from Spinefarm Records, in ’12 Gauge’ you converge with the melodic death metal that you missed by Kalmah.
8/10
