Keep Of Kalessin Interview

Keep Of Kalessin are one of the rising bands in black metal. They’ve been around for a while, but 2006’s Armada was their breakthrough. The band recently did their first U.S. tour along with Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth. The Norwegian group’s latest effort is Kolossus. I spoke with guitarist and main songwriter Obsidian Claw about the new CD, tour plans, his other project Headspin and many other subjects.

Chad Bowar: Give us a preview of your new CD Kolossus.
Obsidian Claw: The fans can expect a very big and powerful epic sounding album. In my mind I think it’s the perfect successor to Armada. It takes it to the next level, and it also has a very organic production so it doesn’t sound like all those copy and paste albums of today. It’s definitely something new and fresh in the black metal scene.

Is it a goal to try to build up your audience and popularity in the United States?
Yes. The U.S. market is definitely a focus market for us. We want to go back there as soon as possible. The problem is we are not big enough to headline yet, so we have to find other bands to tour with. We have been in contact with several bands, but as a support band you always have to convince the others to bring you along. I hope that Kolossus gets the attention it deserves in the U.S. so we can get over there as soon as possible. It will be so much easier to convince everyone in the business to have us back if the album does well.

Read the complete Keep Of Kalessin Interview
Read the Keep Of Kalessin - Kolossus Review

(photo courtesy Nuclear Blast Records)