Kalmankantaja – Varjosielu [Compilation]

It has taken a couple of months, but with the release of ‘Varjosielu’ the first recording of Kalmankantaja of 2024 is finally here. This time around we aren’t presented with a new album, but instead re-arranged and enhanced versions of what Grim666 labels as essential songs of the band from the 2014-2016 period.

That Grim666 likes to revisit the past should be no surprise to those that follow Kalmankantaja closely. Whether it is recording new albums that harken back to earlier work of the band, or re-imagining old songs, the band’s present and future is closely tied to its past. The material on ‘Varjosielu’ consists of seven tracks: two songs originally appearing on the 2015 album ‘Muinainen’, two from the split with V-Khaoz, two from the split with Hermóðr and a track that previously only appeared as a bonus track on the LP version of the ‘Demonwoods’ full-length.

The choice to rearrange these tracks makes sense from the perspective of the recent Kalmankantaja releases. Last year’s full-length ‘Surun Saattomailla’ and EP ‘Unohdettu’ both harkened back to a time in the band’s history that the earliest depressive Black Metal foundations had been replaced by a more atmospheric sound. ‘Muinainen’ was the first album to show this more melody-driven formula, but at the same time, the now so trademarked atmospheric keyboards were not yet incorporated. On the rerecordings of ‘Hautasaattue’ and ‘Yön alttarilla’, both which originally appeared on ‘Muinainen’, we find Grim666 adding just that: a further enhancement of the trademark Kalmankantaja sound by adding a layer of mostly dreamlike synthesizer soundscapes. But that is not all that changed. Both songs have been drastically shortened by about 6 minutes each, opting for a more concise repetition of the melodies than the originals. The guitars sound is less raw and the drum tracks are also entirely new and more dynamic, making both these songs less repetitive and more impactful in their newer form. With this, Grim666 pulls these songs from a transitional sound to something that seamlessly fits in the current musical spectrum of the band.

‘Hämärään unohdettu’ and ‘Varjojen valtakunta’ previously appeared on the split with Hermóðr and are arguably the most revamped songs on ‘Varjosielu’. The leading melodies of both songs have remained intact, but Grim666 has adjusted the pace, making the first track a touch more uptempo and the latter song a bit slower. The guitar sound here is a little less heavy and a bit more raw than the originals, keeping it in line with the other songs on this compilation. Again the added synthesizer tracks transform the songs and add a bit more diversity, while keeping the core mostly recognizable. But certainly these are far from carbon copy reworks.

In ‘Musta maa’ and ‘Valon tappaja’, both from the V-Khaoz split, the differences mostly lie in an updated sound. The calm distorted strumming of the originals has been replaced by a cleaner sound which fits for instance with the ‘Unohdettu’ EP. This gives the guitar a slightly less cold tone, but that same chilling atmosphere now comes from the enhanced keyboard layer. And while these songs may sound a touch cleaner, the opposite can be said for final track ‘Varjolsielu’. The song has now been complemented with an intro and a somewhat sharper guitar sound, and fits well previous albums like ‘Surun Saattomailla’ (but without the distorted vocals of that full-length), but also the somewhat odd-one-out and Katatonia-like ‘Second Death’ album and the Voidwind record ‘Clad in Your Misery’ that Grim666 contributed to.

Moving forward while staying connected to the past is by now as much of a trademark of Kalmankantaja as their atmospheric Black Metal sound. With ‘Varjosielu’, some key songs from the transitional phase where the band morphed from a depressive Black Metal sound to a more atmospheric unit are now updated into a more dreamlike whole. While the originals are still easily identified, the rearrangements lift the compositions to more current standards of the band, thereby honoring both the past and showing a glimpse of the future of Kalmankantaja.