Top Picks
Keep Of Kalessin – Katharsis (progressive black metal, power metal)
It's been a while between outings for progressive blackened power metal purveyors Keep of Kalessin. The band have undergone a significant lineup change since 2015's Epistemology, with the addition of Wanja "Nechtan" Gröger behind the kit, but are finally back and potentially sounding better than ever. I haven't had a chnce to listen to Katharsis in full yet so, like everyone else, all I have to go off is the album's outstanding titatle track, which is a bit more in line with the band's traditional power-metal-leaning output than the proggy grooves of the last effort, but if they can deliver an album full of songs of similar quality, then we could be talking about the best Keep of Kalessin record yet.
Ihsahn – Fascination Sessions (progressive metal)
Fascination Sessions might only contain two original tracks and a somewhat novel cover of "Dom Andra" Swedish pop-rockers Kent, featuring Katatonia's Jonas Renske, but it's a hell of a showing, nonetheless. The once-infallible Ihsahn has lost me a bit with his recent output, which is by no means bad, but hasn't been as interesting nor grabbed me a smuch as his previous material. Fascination Sessions on the other hand is a forceful showing that leans into the aspecs of his sound I've felt have been missing for a while and which I hope he leans into further in future. "Contorted Moments" in particular is the kind of driving, upbeat composition I was hoping he'd come up with more of following the Whitesnake-worthy "Until I Too Disolve" (not to mention that rather underwhelming Lenny Kravitz cover he did), with "Dom Andra" blending a similar playfulness with his and Renske's trademark contemplative melancholy. It might not contain much, but Fascinations Sessions has me the most excited I've been about new Ihsahn material since Arktis (2016).