Keep of Kalessin

• Genres: Black Metal
• Representative Albums: "Kolossus," "Armada," "Through Times of War"

Biography

During their first incarnation, Norway's Keep of Kalessin were comprised of vocalist Ghâsh, guitarist/keyboardist Obsidian C., bassist Warach, and drummer Vyl, and released a pair of quite competent -- but also rather typical -- Scandinavian black metal albums in 1997's Through Times of War and 1999's Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark. Neither LP made much of an impact outside the extreme metal scene itself, and so the bandmembers went their separate ways, as Obsidian C. (real name Arnt Grønbech) accepted a position as touring guitarist with Satyricon, while continuing to write his own songs on the side. These he eventually recorded with the help of Satyricon drummer Frost and black metal vocalist-for-hire extraordinaire Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Aborym, etc.) and released under the Keep of Kalessin name as 2003's Reclaim EP, featuring three lengthy tracks of eclectically spiced black metal. One year later, Grønbech and keyboardist Steinar Gundersen were arrested in Canada on rape accusations while touring with Satyricon, but all charges were soon dismissed as unfounded and, by 2006, Grønbech was ready to release a third full-length Keep of Kalessin CD, Armada, featuring new cohorts Thebon on vocals, Wizziac on bass, and Vyl (aka Vegard Larsen) on drums.

History:

Keep of Kalessin is a black metal band from Trondheim, Norway formed in 1993. The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. on guitars and keyboards, Warach on bass, and Vyl on drums. They released two albums under this lineup: Through Times of War in 1997, and Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark in 1999, before splitting up. Obsidian C. then toured with Satyricon, but revived the Keep of Kalessin name for a 2003 EP, Reclaim. In 2006 he reconstituted the group with a new lineup and released a third full-length, Armada. They toured with Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir early in 2008. Their fourth album Kolossus was released on June 6, 2008. They take their name from Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series of books, where Kalessin is the name of the arch-dragon who is the bearer of the Earthsea world.

Obsidian C. announced in the Studio Report 4 video of Kolossus that they're already working on some new songs for the next album.


“I think we'll have maybe one week of vacation after these recording sessions are done before we start recording the next album again. We have written songs for the new album, so hopefully the fans won't need to wait more than a year between Kolossus and the next one”

Keep of Kalessin was nominated for a Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008.

Other than most black metal bands, Keep of Kalessin is in its harshness still melodical and technical oriented. Unlike the traditional Norwegian black metal, Keep of Kalessin also makes use of other instruments like the piano, keyboards and synthesizers. They started experimenting with a new sound which gave Keep of Kalessin its new character after Obsidian C. recruited the new band-members Thebon, Wizziac and Vyl for their album Armada in 2006, the follow-up after Reclaim in 2003. Before Reclaim, the band had a much darker and colder character because of the different line-up they had back in the days. The line-up split in 2000, though Obsidian C. still wanted to make something of the band and the split-up wasn't the end of the band yet. He wanted to give Keep of Kalessin a unique character and developed its music and improved himself too as a musician and lyrics writer, but the band still needed a drummer which could keep up with his riffing and he couldn't find one in Trondheim. After nearly 3 years, the band Satyricon was in the need of a guitarist and Obsidian C. participated in the auditions and "played the ass off" some other 30 guitarists who also had applied for the job. He made it to the band and came in contact with one of the most renowned, fast and brutal black metal drummers, Frost.

Obsidian C. didn't give up on Keep of Kalessin and as soon as Frost heard its material, without hesitation, he immediately said yes when Obsidian C. asked him to do the drumming on his new EP. As the band's new guitarist, Obsidian C. also toured with the band and this made it possible to recruit Attila Csihar for his EP to do the vocals. This new line-up recorded Keep of Kalessin's new EP Reclaim and sky-rocketed the band into the elite black metal scene of Norway. But the line-up did not last and fell apart because of the distances between the band members. Still, this would not stop Obsidian C. and he was more and more determined to bring Keep of Kalessin to the masses. As part of Satyricon he toured a lot with the band and understood that touring is a must to promote a band. Not much later he teamed up with a new drummer he found, Vyl who had no difficulties to keep up with Obsidian C.'s fast riffing and became part of the band. Now the band still needed a vocalist and preferably a bassist as well. This is when Thebon and Wizziac became part of the band as the band's new vocalist and bassist.

Together, with Torstein Parelius - the lyric writer from their EP Reclaim - the new line-up spend 2 years to prepare and record their next album entitled Armada. This elevated the band up a higher place in the elite black metal scene of Norway and the band finally had a line-up which could last and made the band even more promising than before.

This same line-up recorded in 2007 the new album Kolossus which released in the summer of 2008, demonstrating the band improved their sound after the well received and highly acclaimed release Armada in 2006 which even got some good attention from the more mainstream masses in Norway. This resulted in nomination for the Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008. In Kolossus they started to experiment more with different instruments and the band indeed created a unique character for Keep of Kalessin as we now know it.

Discography


Studio releases

• Through Times of War (1997)
• Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark (1999)
• Armada (2006)
• Kolossus (2008)

Extended plays

• Reclaim (2003)

Demos

• Skygger av Sorg (1996)

Band members



Current members

• Arnt "Obsidian C." Grønbech - guitars, synths
• Torbjørn "Thebon" Schei - vocals
• Robin "Wizziac" Isaksen - bass
• Vegar "Vyl" Larsen - drums

Former members

• Attila Csihar - Vocals - (Reclaim EP)
• Frost (Kjetil Haraldstad) - Drums - (Reclaim EP)
• Ghâsh - Vocals - (1996-1999)
• Warach (Øyvind A.Winther) - Bass - (1996-1999)
• Cernunnus (Tor-Helge Skei) - Live guitars
• Kesh - Session Bass


http://s15.zetaboards.com/Keep_Of_Kalessin/index/ Official Page
http://www.myspace.com/keepofkalessin