Hailing from the cold Finnish wastes comes the mysterious black metal occultists known as Kêres with their latest musical offering Flaming Ash. This is their fourth EP, though the contents inside makes it feel like a full length. Its densely packed with cold melodic riffs that evoke this deep sense of melancholy. Its about as frigid as where the band hails from, and simply nails that iconic Finnish black metal sound.
While most who are familiar with the Finnish black metal scene, would understand how typically a lot of the bands tend to be more on the melodic side, taking influences from punk, rock, and more traditional heavy metal, but of course twists it into its blackened form that we’re mostly familiar with. Kêres on the other hand, takes a slow with this album, sporting a skeletal and incredibly cold form of production with heavy emphasis on the melodic side of things. The guitars and bass chug along as the drums keep a steady pace. They’re clearly not trying to rush themselves with this release, as its not towards the middle of the EP that it starts to pick up pace with the third and fourth tracks having this faster blast beat sections. Which is fitting given the concept behind those two tracks. The lyrics, being spoken out with these deep guttural moans, touch upon different aspects of death and suffering, but those two tracks in particular have this theme of ancient warfare being described in a rather beautiful metaphorical way. Its not often you get to see well written lyrics in black metal, but its highly appreciated when its accompanied by such excellent song writing.
This could easily be an actual album as opposed to an EP. The quality that Kêres puts out with this release is top notch and really got me hooked onto this band. Their previous albums are also well worth the listen especially their last full length, Ice, Vapor and Crooked Arrows. Flaming Ash how ever, has a somewhat cleaner production choice, as opposed to the incredibly gritty and lofi releases from the past. Flaming Ash also took a step away and stripped down the sound a bit more, going for a much more minimalist approach with the lack of synths that Kêres is known for when they make their wall of sound. If anything, this release harkens back to their first album Eternal Wake, which had a much similar vibe with the style of production at hand and song writing, just much more cleaner. The first album had an almost demo like quality behind it, since it was a very limited release with only a few copies even being suitable for listen. But for those who just want to dip their toes into the sound that Kêres conjures, this is the release to start with as its a great example of the skills and excellency they’re able to create. They’re a reclusive band, with many of their releases being private or physical releases only, which adds a great layer of mystique to the band that I can’t get enough of. Get your hands on their stuff, as its well worth the listen.