Anyone else as excited about Keep of Kalessin’s new album as I am? Their 2008 album Kolossus was one of my favorite black metal-ish records of the year, close to Nachtmystium’s Assassins: Black Meddle Part 1 and Enslaved’s Vertebrae; it was the most traditionally black metal sounding of the three, but it too had flecks of psychedelia and progressive experimentation. The album wasn’t without faults but was a really solid record that showcased the unique brand of black metal the band had to offer.

Two years later Keep of Kalessin are back with new album Reptilian, having gained a lot of notoriety since then both via word-of-mouth and through the Eurovision competition earlier this year. Their new song “The Dragontower” took them surprisingly far in the Eurovision competition; that song’s been streaming at Keep of Kalessin’s MySpace page since then, and the band has just posted another new song from Reptilian called “The Awakening.” It’s an ambitious 8+ minute epic — counter to the 3-minute pop structure of “The Dragontower” — which hopefully hints at what this album’s going to offer.

Reptilian comes out on May 10th in Europe via Indie Recordings and June 8th in the U.S. via Nuclear Blast. Stay tuned to MetalSucks for a full album stream soon.

-VN