Finnish melodic death metal giants Kalmah remains a myth to the North American public until now. Formed all the way back in 1998, they have never toured here. Fans of the genre and the band themselves were reduced to seeing them only in online clips but now that has finally changed. The band just wrapped up their first ever tour in America with the “Heroes to U.S.” tour joined by Norwegian band Vreid.
Kalmah learned that they have a large following in North America by way of a fan vote on which country the band should visit next, US came in first by a great margin. So Kalmah announced a US visit soon after to the joy of all Swampheads (the name for the bands followers) of the new world. Though, the tour wasn’t as long or wide reaching as many expected, it still drew pretty large crowds and the show in New York was no exception. The Gramercy Theatre was filled near capacity, and fans were chanting the bands name through-out the sound check and setup time. Then finally through loud ovation, the band hit the stage.
Opening with Hook The Monster and They Will Return followed by The Evil Kin from their eighth full studio album Palo, which was released last year, the aggressive music intertwined with melodic keyboard melodies and melodic guitar solos were truly a fine sample of melodic death metal. The bands original member, lead guitarist and vocalist Pekka Kokko was like a gentle giant. Huge by stature, fearsome while singing but otherwise smiling and joking with fans, stating that the show was somewhat in jeopardy because of his bottle of Finnish vodka he drank the night before. All that while Janne Kusmin at the drums goofing off with fans and downing a can of the beer (must have been Finnish beer too).
Further the band played a mix of the new songs and their most popular material, including Swamphell and Seventh Swamphony, while finishing the set with The Black Waltz and Hades.
Through the show the bands keyboardist Veli-Matti Kananen, while somewhat out of sight in the corner of the stage, provided atmospheric and melodic elements that’s characteristic to this death metal sub-genre, and really can make death metal reach further in to the wider audience. Altogether the show was amazing, and the fans are hopeful that another visit will be forthcoming.
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Photos by Andris Jansons
