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Keep of Kalessin is a Norwegian
extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...
band from
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
, formed in 1993. The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. (the group founder) 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 The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifi ...
, 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 Behemoth (; , ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful ...
and
Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...
early in 2008. Their fourth album '' Kolossus'' was released on 6 June 2008. They take their name from
Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...
's
Earthsea ''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with '' A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), '' The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and '' The Farthest Shore'' (1 ...
series of books, where Kalessin is the name of the arch-dragon who is the bearer of the Earthsea world. Keep of Kalessin was nominated for a
Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...
in the
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
category in 2008.


History

Keep of Kalessin is well known for their melodic sound and virtuosic playing ability, while still maintaining a level of harshness that one traditionally expects from
black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
bands. In contrast to traditional Norwegian black metal, Keep of Kalessin also makes use of other instruments like the
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
, keyboards and
synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
. 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 the ''Reclaim'' EP in 2003. Before ''Reclaim'', the band had a much darker and colder character because of the different line-up they had earlier in their career. The line-up split in 2000, though Obsidian C. still wanted to make something of the band and the split-up was not the end of the band yet. He wanted to give Keep of Kalessin a unique character and develop its music, and improve himself too as a musician and lyrics writer, but the band still needed a drummer who could keep up with his riffing and he was unable find one in
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
. After nearly 3 years, the band
Satyricon The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifi ...
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 Satyricon's drummer
Frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
. Obsidian C. did not 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 Attila Gábor Csihar (; born 29 March 1971), also sometimes known as Void, is a Hungarian extreme metal vocalist, best known for his vocal work in Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and American drone metal band Sunn O))). Author Ian Christe ...
for his EP to do the vocals. This new line-up recorded Keep of Kalessin's new EP ''Reclaim'' and skyrocketed the band into the elite black metal scene of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. 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 increasingly 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 again with Vyl, who was a part of the band before the breakup in 2000. Now the band still needed a vocalist and preferably a bassist as well. This is when Thebon (vocals) and Wizziac (bass guitar) became part of the band. Together with Torstein Parelius – the lyric writer from their EP ''Reclaim'' – the new line-up spent 2 years preparing to record their next album entitled ''Armada''. This elevated the band to 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'', 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 media in Norway. This resulted in a nomination for the
Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...
in the metal category in 2008. On Kolossus they started to experiment more with different instruments and the band indeed created a unique character for Keep of Kalessin. In 2010, Keep of Kalessin entered a song in the
Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norsk Melodi Grand Prix, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been sta ...
, the annual competition to select Norway's entry in the
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
, which was hosted by the country due to its victory in the 2009 contest, becoming the first heavy metal band to vie in the competition. The band performed their new song, "The Dragontower", in the first of 3 semi-final rounds and advanced to the Gold Final round, where the band finished in 3rd place overall through a combined viewer and jury vote. Obsidian C. announced in the ''Studio Report 4'' video of ''Kolossus'' that they're already working on some new songs for the next album. The band released its fifth album, "Reptilian," on 10 May 2010. It demonstrated a slight deviation from the black metal influenced sound of their previous music in favor of a truer extreme metal sound. The album received generally positive reviews and peaked at number 2 on the Norwegian charts. "Reptilian" is also the last album to feature Thebon on vocals. After touring for "Reptilian," Thebon was fired from the band and took over lead vocal duties for the thrash band
Hellish Outcast Hellish Outcast is a death / thrash metal band from Bergen, Norway, founded in 2001. History Hellish Outcast was formed in 2001 in Bergen, Norway, originally as a trio by guitarist Martin Legreid, bassist Mads Mowinckel (Breed) and drummer Ma ...
. With Thebon no longer in the band, Obsidian C. took over lead vocal duties. The band's first release as a three-piece line up was the "Introspection" EP. It contained two new songs and an "extreme" remake of the song "The Dragontower" from "Reptilian." A music video was made for the track "Introspection." The band announced that they were working on a full-length album, titled "Epistemology." A cover art contest was held, with hundreds of submissions and a voting page set up on the band's Facebook profile. Brazilian artist Jean Michel was declared the winner at the end, and the album was released on 16 February 2015. On 25 December 2022, Keep of Kalessin announced their upcoming album '' Katharsis'', to be premiered in full live on the
70000 Tons of Metal 70000 Tons of Metal (officially stylized as 70000TONS OF METAL) is an annual heavy metal music festival that takes place on board a cruise ship. The event is a five-day festival, including one shore day at a select Caribbean destination. His ...
festival cruise, ahead of the full release on 24 March 2023. The title track was released as the first single on 28 February 2023, to the Back on Black Records' YouTube channel, with streaming services following on 3 March 2023.


Band members


Current members

* Arnt "Obsidian C." Grønbech – guitars, keyboards , lead vocals , bass * Robin "Wizziac" Isaksen – bass * Wanja "Nechtan" Gröger – drums


Former members

* Øyvind A. "Warach" Winther – bass * Vegar "Vyl" Larsen – drums *Torbjørn "Thebon" Schei – vocals * Magnus "Ghâsh" Hjertaas – vocals *
Attila Csihar Attila Gábor Csihar (; born 29 March 1971), also sometimes known as Void, is a Hungarian extreme metal vocalist, best known for his vocal work in Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and American drone metal band Sunn O))). Author Ian Christe ...
– vocals * Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad – drums *
Oli Beaudoin Oli Beaudoin is a Canadian drummer, record producer, composer and mixer. He has won a Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, ...
– drums


Timeline


Discography


Studio releases

* '' Through Times of War'' (1997) * '' Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark'' (1999) * '' Armada'' (2006) * '' Kolossus'' (2008) * '' Reptilian'' (2010) * ''
Epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
'' (2015) * '' Katharsis'' (2023)


Extended plays

* ''Reclaim'' (2003) * ''Introspection'' (2013) * ''Heaven of Sin'' (2016)


Demos

* ''Skygger av Sorg'' (1996)


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1993 1993 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Trondheim Nuclear Blast artists Candlelight Records artists Back on Black Records artists