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“Kolossus” covers a lot of ground in its nine tracks. The album opens with the folksy, melodic strum of the instrumental intro, blending into the full on black metal assault of "A New Empire's Birth"." Most of the album falls between these two extremes, with the balance being heavily tipped towards the more aggressive. At times an almost military cadence is noticeable, namely in the "Rising Sign" and the title track. "Warmonger" marks the mid point of “Kolossus” and has a bit of a different vibe than the rest of the album, reminiscent of the black-n-roll of later era Satyricon. This track is a welcome diversion, and with it the band manages to take a different approach without creating something that sounds out of place. "Escape the Union" is another track that showcases different ideas, and it is one of the albums highlights. I would describe it as a black metal equivalent of Metallic's "One." Starting with clean sung vocals and clean melodic guitars, before building to it's blast drenched crescendo, this is truly the stand out track on “Kolossus.” Album closer "Ascendant" contains a subtle yet brilliant touch, transforming the main riff from the aforementioned folksy intro into the central riff of an up-tempo black metal song.
The musicianship on “Kolossus” is of the top shelf variety, as is to be expected from such a seasoned band. Vocalist Thebon really stands out, delivering a memorable and diverse performance. Though he primarily uses a mid ranged shriek, he incorporates varying levels of cleanness into his vocals throughout the album, and changes things up with a deep menacing growl.
“Kolossus” is a massive album that successfully melds a myriad of ideas without overextending itself. Fans of later era Emperor should find a lot to like in what Keep of Kalessin is doing. By no means do they sound like Emperor, but from a production and style standpoint, the last two Emperor albums are a good reference point. I would not be surprised to see Kollosus show up on a few year-end top 10 lists.
Rating: 90
Reviewed By: Garett F.