Ahhh, this band just makes me smile -- and on so many levels!
Firstly, of course the music. Not quite as blast-a-thon as their last album, but still very fast paced "primitive" sounding black metal. There are keyboards used, and with a little more variation than before, but this remains worlds apart from the Swedish sound of Sanctifica or Crimson Moonlight. Have no doubt, this is a guitar band. Most importantly, though, they've written good songs. From blazing and aggressive to pretty and surreal (mostly blazing, of course), it's all done well.
The vocals deserve special note for the diversity. Quite a bit of the high shrieks as heard on Beyond..., but also low growls and liberal use of both male and female clean vocals. Although the music is completely different, the way in which the vocals are used reminds me a lot of Within... era Paramaecium.
The drum machine also makes me smile. Is it "clicky"? Yeah, a little bit, but I like it. It's a great contrast from all the poorly produced death metal cd's out there where the snare blasts completely bury the guitars, to the machine that leaves ample room in the mix for everybody -- particularly with the amount of blasts and double bass that Kekal uses.
And the lyrics. What could make me smile more than my Indonesian brothers singing for Christ in their slightly broken "English as a second language" way? Their vocabulary is actually pretty good, but phrases like "... the Unsinned had to get the torture" and "suddenly all drown so deep, our world is now in crumble", coupled with an occasional mispronunciation, helps us realize why Antestor and Extol write half their songs in their native tongue.
Bottom line is this -- if you're looking for a black metal band to look all scary and horrify your parents, take Kekal right off that list. If you're looking for some great fast-paced black metal fun, however, few bands can top this one.
8.5/10
Other coverage for this album
Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by Hey YouI'm getting tired of traditional black metal. It annoys me. And this is even worse than most. I really really love Lengsel, but that's because it's the normal black metal. The music is very high pitched and uses a lot of treble. All you hear is the high end of the guitars and the cymbals. That's about it. The vocals are even hard to hear. When I can hear them, they are completely amazing, but…Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by D_ListerThe seemingly eternal wait is finally over. Yes we have waited, and heard promises after promises of finally being able to get our hands on the follow up to Kekal's first album Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams and well indeed Embrace the Dead was worth the wait. I can't say that Kekal has changed very much from one album to the next, in fact this album really does feel like an extension of Beyond...…Similar sounding releases
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2002The Painful Experience
1998Beyond The Glimpse Of Dreams
20031000 Thoughts Of Violence
2002Chaos & Warfare
