Kaamos -Lucifer Rising
Feature Image(Candlelight )
In 2002, amid all the Swedish retro hoopla of Bloodbath’s Resurrection Through Carnage and even original recordings from Swedish veterans Centinex, Vomitory and Fleshcrawl, one band lithely slipped under the radar that year with their self titled debut. Now, personally I didn’t care for it that much especially compared to the other similarly styled releases of that year, and so when Lucifer Rising arrived in my mailbox I wasn’t that excited. But wow, what a difference three 3 years makes! Still doing old school Swedish metal and again competing with Bloodbath’s latest offering, Kaamos aren’t going to win any awards for originality or artistry, but what they have done is masterfully recreated possibly the most faithful Left Hand Path sounding album I’ve heard. Now don’t get too excited, Lucifer Rising isn’t about to be revered as a classic as it doesn’t have the same level of killer, genre defining songs and obviously won’t be as influential, but for overall feel and vibe, Kaamos have nailed it.

With an expected Sunlight-ish sound, Kaamos churn their way through 10 tracks in 37 minutes covering the usual realms of darkness and death that warrant virtually no cerebral work other than naming the Entombed or even Nihilist song (“Sacrament in Red”) a certain riff reminds you of. If you don’t believe my Left Hand Path comparison just check out the1:47 mark of “Gnosticon”, the 2:31 and 3:53 mark of “Inaugurating Evil” or the whole of “Mysterious Reversion” and haunting instrumental closer “Ascent” to soundly validate my claim. As well as the obvious Entombed influence in some of the more controlled tracks and solos, you can also hear some solid Grave grooves and blasts in there as well (“Dark Void”, “Lucifer Rising”)-not surprising considering drummer Cristofer Barkensjö has served in Grave. Lucifer Rising isn’t an album you pick through tracks to listen to, you just put it in and bask in its unashamed retro glory for its entirety and let it pummel you back to a bygone age.

The factor that struck me as unique about this obviously un-unique album is that while some of the retro super groups like Chaosbreed and God Among Insects seem a little forced and almost overly homage ridden, Kaamos come across as more natural and honest, not so much as a part time, super group tribute band but a genuine intentionally low profile Swedish death metal band. Good stuff.

[Visit the band's website]

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