KAMLATH - Stronger Than Frost

The first thing you notice about Kamlath's Stronger Than Frost, is the beautiful, interlacing vocal harmonies which are woven throughout the whole album. This lends the album a heavy ethereal feeling, making it easy for the listener to imagine wandering the vast Siberian wastes, becoming immersed in the beauty of this unknown land.

Classified as “dark metal”, Kamlath certainly manages to live up to that genrefication [sic], both musically and thematically. With tracks titled ‘Seven Thousand Winters’, ‘One Tired Wise’, and ‘From Siberian Deeps’, one can assume that this is not an album that will have you leaping to your feet in a frenzy of heavy metal mayhem. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The purpose of this album, as described on the band’s home label, Solitude Productions’ webpage, is for Kamlath to “tell with their music about Siberia, its inhabitants, the pride of this great people, their destiny full of heroism and tragedy through thousands of years.” This ideal is amazingly crafted in the introduction to first track ‘Isgher’, as well as the last moments of the final track ‘From Siberian Deeps’, where a simple vocal harmony, backed and eventually drowned out by a howling wind, quietly sings “take a breath of cold day and blood, pulsing through veins, our tribe still strong.”

Aching vocals and lyrical poetry aside, each track contains a solid foundation from all instruments. Drums that are tough but not overbearing, simple, yet elegant bass lines, crunchy guitars that manage to stay gritty without overdoing it, and some really fantastic lead guitar riffs, which reinforce complexity, yet still maintaining an air of ease behind Stronger Than Frost. This album is so smooth that when listening to it you can imagine Kamlath walking into the studio, recording it, mixing it, and releasing the album in a matter of days - such is their expertise. But this shouldn’t really come as a surprise, since a quick check into Kamlath’s credentials reveal each members’ incredible experience.

Take, for example, virtuoso guitarist Mike Wead, who has played with Diamond Head, Mercyful Fate, and Candlemass, to name a few, and has been nominated for a Grammy award. Or Dennis Leeflang, both drummer and drum teacher, and who has worked with, amongst others, Within Temptation, Epica, Sun Caged and The Saturnine.

How could you go wrong with such incredible talent all on one album? Well, Stronger Than Frost is proof that you can’t – and I doubt that Kamlath could, even if they tried really, really hard. Overall - a great album by a great group.

Album: Stronger Than Frost

Year: 2011

Track List: 

1. Isgher 
2. Seven Thousand Winters 
3. Thy Revelation 
4. Stronger Than Frost 
5. One Tired Wise 
6. Dawn Of Credence 
7. From Siberian Deeps 

Visit:  www.myspace.com/kamlath