Calvarium
The Skull Of Golgotha
4.9
Finland's Calvarium are...somewhat sinister, so long as you don't go to their webpage and look at their band photos or read their biography. And so long as you ignore their grand keyboard arrangements, presumably played by some guy wearing a top hat and additionally layered vocals. And spoken Cradle of Filth reminiscent passages.
Well, alright, so they're not too sinister at all. Then what are they?
Something I don't feel like listening to.
Besides the fact that we're given this album to review when it was released in 2003 or early 2004 and I can't see a reason to warrant a rerelease, it's just boring. It has poor production and occasionally campy mid 90's black metal worship that clashes heavily with the keys and vocal effects. It's not horrible, it's just tired and drawn out. There really isn't much being offered on The Skull of Golgotha that isn't done much better by other bands with bigger names and better distribution. There are some decent and grim progressions on "Siunatum Surma", and the slow pace of "Herramme On Saapuva" is a nice change, despite the erratic drumming. There's a Finnish vibe that I'm able to pick up from time to time in the drumwork, like on "Morbid Hordes Revenge" that works nicely, but sadly doesn't keep the album afloat. Aside from the bad keyboards, inconsistent drumming, and unvarying song structures, it's okay. But there's a lot of work to be done here, and many things to be improved upon.
Overall it's a very basic and all too familiar black metal album that's overshadowed by more powerful releases. It simply just isn't that engrossing, despite the fact that it's not too poor. Don't dive at the chance to pick it up, but at least it's not worthy of being shunned. Okay for a debut, though.
