Keep of Kalessin is an

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 ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

, Norway formed in 1993. The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. (the group founder) on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

s and keyboards, Warach on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, and Vyl on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

. 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, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petr ...

, 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 (; he, בְּהֵמוֹת, ''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; he is paired with the other chaos-monster, Leviathan, and ...

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, ...

early in 2008. Their fourth album Kolossus was released on June 6, 2008. They take their name from

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

's Earthsea 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 Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizat ...

in the

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

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 subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

bands. In contrast to traditional Norwegian black metal, Keep of Kalessin also makes use of other instruments like the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, keyboards and

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

. 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 A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

and

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

writer, but the band still needed a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer's ...

who could keep up with his riffing and he was unable find one in

. After nearly 3 years, the band

was in the need of a

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themsel ...

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 in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...

. 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

, Obsidian C. also toured with the band and this made it possible to recruit

Attila Csihar Attila 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-doom project Sunn O))). Author Ian Christe descr ...

for his EP to do the

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

. 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 in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island 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 A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

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

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, the annual competition to select Norway's entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, 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 left/was fired from the band and took over lead vocal duties for the thrash band Hellish Outcast. 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 Feb 2015.

Discography

Studio releases

* '' Through Times of War'' (1997) * '' Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark'' (1999) * '' Armada'' (2006) * '' Kolossus'' (2008) * '' Reptilian'' (2010) * ''

Epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...

'' (2015) * '' Katharsis'' (2023)

Extended plays

* '' Reclaim'' (2003) * ''

Introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's sou ...

'' (2013) * '' Heaven of Sin'' (2016)

Demos

* ''Skygger av Sorg'' (1996)

Band Members

Current members

* Arnt "Obsidian C." Grønbech -

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, keyboards, , lead vocals ,

* Robin "Wizziac" Isaksen - bass * Wanja "Nechtan" Gröger -

Former Members

* Øyvind A. "Warach" Winther - bass * Vegar "Vyl" Larsen -

* Torbjørn "Thebon" Schei -

* Magnus "Ghâsh" Hjertaas - vocals *

- vocals * Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad - drums *

Oli Beaudoin Oli Beaudoin is a Juno Award winning drummer, record producer, composer and mixer. He is the former drummer for Kataklysm, Ex Deo, Neuraxis, and live drummer for Belphehor and Keep of Kalessin. Beaudoin currently works as a producer and mixer ...

- drums Timeline

References

External links

* {{Authority control Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1993 1993 establishments in Norway Melodi Grand Prix contestants Musical groups from Trondheim Nuclear Blast artists