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For the Revolution | 
| Manufacturer: Fontana International
Category: Digital Music Album
Buy New: $8.91
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 27533
Genre: pop-music
Media: MP3 Download
Running Time: 0 Minutes
ASIN: B001ASI53A
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Its no Black Waltz, but its still Kalmah October 26, 2008
Ezell (iraq)
Kalmah seems to be one of those bands that doesn't like to change their sound like some of those other 'lilly pad jumper' bands out there. Instead they just rely on progressing their music, as in just getting better with playing, song composition, timing, and instrumental blending. Alas if you lay out Kalmah's discography and listen to each one in order of release (probably with the exception of Black Waltz), you will notice that not only does the latter of each released album just sound more cool, but it is actually better than the one before it.
It is actually quite impressive how far this band has come. FTR is very instrumental, well composed, progressively thrashy melodic death metal at its core. And the vocalist has backed off some of the death vocals and threw in some more of higher thrash vocals like older Kalmah did. So with that said, I'll leave to you to imagine how outstanding For the Revolution sounds compared to its predecessors.
For The Revolution is definitely a nominee for album of the year but the reason I give only 4 stars is simple: ITS NO BLACK WALTZ. And if every album Kalmah put out sounded like The Black Waltz then it woundn't be that great of an album, now would it?
 Catchy Folk/Death Metal September 30, 2008
Erik Kim Sandved (usa)
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
A good album from the genera of Folk/Death etc. Catchy rhythm that sounds folky but keeps a death metal edge. The vocals are a bit week in my opinion with little range and zero clarity. This is the first Album from this band I have listened to.
 Keeps getting better with every spin! August 25, 2008
Andy
Not wanting to get too long winded I'll keep this short and sweet. First off, I keep hearing people say that Kalmah sounds like this band or that band. The fact of the matter is that I enjoy Kalmah much more than any of them. Amazing drumming, solos that don't sound like the ones in every other song, and impecable musicianship all around. While I really enjoyed "For the Revolution" on the first listen I still liked "Black Waltz" and "Swampsong" a little better. After owning the album for two weeks I've listened to it through about a dozen times and it gets better every time. So if you enjoy speed/thrash/death/melodic metal bands with killer chops and technicality without sacrificing musicality who stay true to themselves without getting boring then you will definitely enjoy For the Revolution and Kalmah's other offerings. Highly recomended.
Classic Kalmah Meets the Black Waltz August 19, 2008
CreamFluffJerry (Seattle, WA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Kalmah is a relatively unknown melodic death metal band. Their first three albums were amazing but suffered from the "Children of Bodom Clone" syndrome; that is a lot of people accused them of sounding like CoB. The Children only wish they were as good as Kalmah. To me, while there were similarities; Kalmah went for broke to get the "catchy" effect with the first note of every song.
Understandably, Kalmah tried to break free of the "clone" tag on their fourth album, The Black Waltz. With the album Kalmah successfully ended the Children of Bodom accusations completely while still managing to push their own sound forward. Gone were the shrieking vocals, replaced by growls. They managed to beef up the "epic" factor of their music even more. And the album was even catchier, in part due to even more atmosphere. Altogether, The Black Waltz was their best work yet.
So with their latest album Kalmah tries to change their sound again. Their fifth album is a compromise of the sounds of the first three albums and The Black Waltz. Does it work? Absolutely. The best thing about Kalmah has always been that their songs are able to grab your attention right away, and never let go. However, even though I gave the album a "5 star rating", I feel that is not their best work in part due to a somewhat "watered down" catchiness. With the exception of a few songs, the songs lack that "attention grabbing umph" that some of their prior songs like "Heroes to Us" or "Time Takes us All" had.
Certain songs like "Outremer" and "Dead Man's Shadow" manage to retain that classic Kalmah grandiosity. "Ready for Salvation" in particular deserves a mention... It is quite the beast, being simultaneously very slow, melodic, and heavy. If there was such a thing as a "death metal ballad" this would be it. It is certainly the most unique song on the album, and it may be the best as well. I hope that if Kalmah continues to try to evolve their sound, that this is the direction they push for.
All in all, the album was a let-down for me. It's hard to say that about a "5 star album", but then again its hard to beat high expectations. Kalmah stands alongside Nightwish and Iron Maiden as my favorite bands (strange company for a death metal band...), and like those two bands, even a mediocre album would be a crowning masterpiece by any other band. Fans of melodeath bands like Children of Bodom, Norther, Ensiferum, Graveworm, Skyfire, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, or even Arch Enemy should give these guys a shot.
PlayStation controls children's lives! August 12, 2008
MarquisdeSade (Atlanta, GA)
Yet another solid release by the dependable quintet. Not that I was expecting anything else.
I'll try to keep this short and not repeat what the last reviewer said. In this album, the lyrics are less abstract and more about war (or anti-war, I should say) and revolution. The title of the review is a line from "Holy Symphony of War", and the title track is an unrelenting brutal-yet-melodic call to rise and revolt. Some lyrics are cheesy/eyebrow-raising (e.g., Wings of Blackening), but I'm not holding that against them... it's melodeath after all :)
The drumming is exceptional as usual. The keys are used in wonderful cohesion with the guitar lines, such as in the track Outremer. One "downside" of the album is that there aren't really any slow tracks (with the exception of perhaps Ready for Salvation), so it's a somewhat energy-sapping 44 minutes.
If you're new to Kalmah, this may not be the best album to start at; Kalmah's high-speed melodic style is exemplified best (in my opinion) in Swampsong where the vocalist uses a (really awesome) lower pitch growl throughout (he switched to traditional death vox in The Black Waltz). For people who (like me) love melodeath but don't much like plain old death metal, start at one of the earlier albums and work your way forward.
Recommended tracks: For the Revolution, Dead Man's Shadow, Wings of Blackening, Outremer, Like a Slave.
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