UMUR Kolossus is the 4th full-length studio album and the second since their reformation in 2003 by Norwegian black metal act Keep of Kalessin. As many others I became aquainted with Keep of Kalessin through their succesful 2006 release Armada.

The music on Kolossus is pretty polished black metal with traditional heavy metal elements. There are tons of blast beats, raw vocals and fast-paced riffing on the album yet it´s very melodic and might I say... accessible. Keep of Kalessin are very skilled composers and understand the importance of variation on an extreme metal album ( not that Kolossus is very extreme compared to other black metal releases). The Mark of Power is a good example with its acoustic sections. The fact that the main riff is blatantly stolen from The Black Horsemen from the Abigail (1987) album by King Diamond doesn´t make The Mark of Power any less interesting. But it´s not the only song which stand out on the album. In fact all songs are pretty memorable and well composed. The musicianship is excellent throughout. Keep of Kalessin are a tight and powerful unit.

While Kolossus should impress me and does impress me to some extent, I do have a problem with the very polished nature of the album. I think the album lacks a bit of bite and dark attitude which are otherwise more or less a trademark in black metal. If you like your black metal polished and not too dark Kolossus is sure to impress though and I find the album highly recommendable to fans of the lighter and more polished side of black metal.