Four albums in 14 years. Surely not the most productive band on this planet. But we have to admit that KEEP OF KALESSIN's releases have quality. So, it's the fourth album for those Black Metal veterans from Trondheim, Norway and it's time to find out some things about them and find out how good this album is.
The band was formed by Obsidian C in Norway, in 1994, under the name of ILDSKJAER. Soon enough, they changed their name to KEEP OF KALESSIN. They took their name from Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series of books. 'Kalessin' is the name of the arch-dragon who is the bearer of the Earthsea world. After their first, and only, demo in 1997, the band released four albums and an EP, with Attila Csihar (what do you mean Who is he?!) behind the microphone and Frost (if you don't know both of them, you are reading the wrong webzine). Not much releases for that period of time.
To tell you the truth, even though the band is around for many years, I didn't have any contact with their material until recently. This album keeps the band in respectively high standards, but there is a thing that annoys me. OK, the production is crystal clear, the band is in great shape, you will listen to great instrumentations  and and great rhythm section. The problem is that this album is like Armada No.2. I don't want you to misunderstand my words. This album has its good moments. Just listen to The Rising Sign, with that GORGOROTH-like riffing binding beautifully with keyboards that bring in mind ARCTURUS of La Masquerade Infernale era. And the progressive influences don't stop here. You will even listen to some Latin melodies in this album from acoustic guitars.

I think that I draw your attention. Kolossus is not an album that will give you something brand new. But it's way better than some other crap you may find. A release that has songs like Against the Gods, Ascendant and Escape The Unioncan't be bad at all.