Kalmen – Funeral Seas

[schema type=”review” name=”Kalmen – Funeral Seas” description=”Label: Ván Records” author=”Başak Günel” pubdate=”2018-10-05″ ]

Kalmen is a black/doom metal act, hailing from Germany. Founded in 2009, the band released their first full-length “Course Hex” in 2015. Three years have passed and they are back with the recent release “Funeral Seas”. 

No atmosphere or passages but just the pure darkness and a nice combination of black and doom metal with a touch of spiritual elements… “Funeral Seas” is ‘depressive’ and ‘gloomy’ from the beginning to the end. The guitars and the vocals form the highlight of the album, delivering us the dark emotions. Even though the atmosphere feels the same throughout “Funeral Seas”, the songs have different rhythms; some are fast (more BM-ish) whereas others tend to get slower, ranging in the doom metal spectrum. Towards the end of the album, I even felt the songs getting a bit more melodic and diverse (psych elements in Swansong for instance), getting away from the monotonous atmosphere. Surely there are many bands who have combined these two genres & elements before so maybe the band is not bringing anything new but this straightforward approach might attract the ones who like these genres.

“Funeral Seas” comes with the downside that the atmosphere and the monotonous vibe might become too repetitive and the listener might get bored with it halfway through. The twist, however, is in the last part of the album starting with “Uninfinite Black”. That being said, even though the album might not flow so easily for some of you, Kalmen is probably one of those bands who work great live with the dark and doom-y atmosphere…. so give this one a chance!

Highlights: Uninfinite Black, Arcane Heresies

Tracklist: 1. Spectral 2. Thieving Sky 3. Portal 4. Uninfinite Black 5. Swansong 6. Arcane Heresies 7. Searenade

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