(We present Didrik Mešiček‘s review of a new album by the Norwegian band Kalandra, in advance of its September 13 release on By Norse Music.)
Nothing goes together as well as the extreme heat of the summer and really depressive black metal, right? Or is that just me again? Well, anyway, it’s basically autumn and surely we can agree this is a season for romance and softness – the leaves are turning a lovely colour and slowly withering away in a cruel but beautiful reminder of our passing nature. Yet few things in this world would be as pretty were they not as fleeting.
This article isn’t about extreme metal, nor about any sort of metal, really, it’s about a Norwegian band called Kalandra who play a sort of Nordic folk – but not in the vein of Wardruna, it’s a band with a more modern tone and expressing a softer, more feminine touch.
Now, I’ll let you curse me out for a second as I’m once again breaking the rules and talking about a band with clean vocals. I just can’t stop myself from being a rebel, you know? Kalandra first came to my attention last year as they opened for Leprous, which led to me loving their debut release, The Line, and it being one of my most played albums of the year. The record may not be heavy in its sound but it sure hits hard. It can be morose but hopeful, romantic and tragic but mostly it’s reflective and hopeful.
That’s probably enough words about the band’s past and it’s time to speak about the upcoming release a bit, as the band are now coming out with their new album called A Frame of Mind, which will be released on the 13th of September on By Norse Music.
In a very interesting beginning of the album the clock is ticking in the background of “I Am,” a track that sets the mood of the album – it’s introspective, soft and alluring. Kalandra is a band that needs a strong vocalist, although don’t take “strong” to mean loud and harsh, but rather striking or prominent – and Katrine Stenbekk is just that. Her voice ranges from soothing and gentle to mighty when needed, yet the latter is used sparingly in A Frame of Mind.
The band’s music can come across as simplistic, but as most musicians will tell you, it’s the simple (but brilliant) songs that are hardest to write. After The Line and its good reception, the Norwegians definitely felt a bit of pressure to deliver another batch of catchy, captivating and meaningful songs, and the album’s lyricism deals with that partly as well – the pressure of having to deliver what people expect from you, and in a more overarching way, the pressure we all feel to adhere to the roles society has assigned to us or we’ve perhaps assigned to ourselves.
“Are You Ready?” is one of the album’s prereleased singles and one of the standout songs of the album, offering a bit more of a rockish vibe in the so-called instrumental choruses, before retreating and letting the vocals (which are noticeably doubled and thus offer an added layer of fullness) to take charge again. The production is overall very good and even the chaotic ending of the song makes a lot of sense in its assertively inquisitive nature, asking us all the question in the song’s title – are we ready?
The state of the world is – to put it mildly – not great. I think we collectively believe things were better about 20-30 years ago. Is this a joint delusion or is it a result of us being less aware of what’s actually going on in the world back then? Is it perhaps even true? A Frame of Mind’s next track, “The State of the World” brought these thoughts to my mind as Stenbekk sings, accompanied by a piano – the song’s positive message admittedly crosses just a bit into cringe territory for me, but let’s be frank, I am an incorrigibly cynical bastard. The song is still lovely and I find the ending especially powerful as Kalandra finishes the song with:
Was there ever an age where it all made sense?
Or am I reminiscing about lost innocence?
While the record is balanced quite well and doesn’t have a massive drop-off in quality at any stage, I do think the first half is slightly stronger – the four-minute instrumental piece “Hytta” is also placed rather late in the album and would perhaps work better somewhere in the middle. Shaving off a minute or so also wouldn’t hurt.
Usually I’m a big proponent of folk(ier) bands singing in their native language, but with Kalandra there’s no awkwardness in English and, given their great lyricism, I possibly even prefer the songs to be understandable without having to translate them. However, the band does offer some linguistic variety and I’m still definitely happy about that – “Bardaginn” has lyrics in Icelandic and some heavier riffs that somehow paint a futuristic sonic landscape to me, while in “A Life Worth Living” I actually hear some proggy rhythms.
The album’s melancholy peaks in “Segla,” meanwhile, with its very soft acoustic guitar closing the song before the album finishes with the hopeful, “I Remember a Time.” A deeply humanistic song about hope, reconciliation and camaraderie is a great way to finish this album as it concludes the journey of self-reflection, an adventure seldom pleasant yet a rewarding and much needed experience, much like this album.
Kalandra trod a difficult path with this album; the expectations and the pressure were high and I do think they’ve done really well. I won’t go into trying to decide if this is better than The Line, as the most important thing is simply that the album works on its own, maintains the band’s sound, yet isn’t a copy of its predecessor. Even the most kvlt of metalheads sometimes get tired of the growls and this is an album for those days, for when you maybe want to get reminded just a tiny bit that you actually have some feelings buried somewhere deep inside, and for when you want a reminder there’s a softness in the world and that’s something worth protecting.
Meanwhile, Kalandra will soon be on tour through Europe and I can confirm their live show is quite magical so I’m sure – to paraphrase the band’s lyrics from “Naive” – next time, when they get the chance they’ll –
LINEUP:
Katrine Stenbekk – vocals
Jogeir Daae Mæland – guitars
Florian Döderlein Winter – guitars
Oskar Johnsen Rydh – drums
https://www.facebook.com/Kalandramusic/
https://kalandra.bandcamp.com