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Live at Hole In The Sky, Bergen Metal Fest 2008
Background information
Origin	Trondheim, Norway
Genre(s)	Melodic Black metal Black metal Thrash metal
Years active	1993 present
Label(s)	Nuclear Blast Candlelight Tabu Indie
Associated acts	1349, Aptorian Demon, Antares Predator, Gehenna, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Satyricon, Tormentor
Website	www.keepofkalessin.no
Members
Obsidian C. Thebon Wizziac Vyl
Former members
See below

Keep of Kalessin is a black metal band from Trondheim, Norway formed in 1993. The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. on guitars and keyboards, Warach on bass, and Vyl on drums; they released two albums under this lineup in 1997 and 1999 before splitting up. Obsidian C. then toured with Satyricon, but revived the Keep of Kalessin name for a 2003 EP. In 2006 he reconstituted the group with a new lineup and released a third full-length, Armada. They toured with Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir early in 2008. Their fourth album Kolossus was released on June 6, 2008. They take their name from Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series of books, where Kalessin is the name of the arch-dragon who is the bearer of the Earthsea world.

Obsidian C. announced in the Studio Report 4 video of Kolossus that they're already working on some new songs for the next album.

Keep of Kalessin was nominated for a Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008.

Other than most black metal bands, Keep of Kalessin is in its harshness still melodical and technical oriented. Unlike the traditional Norwegian black metal, Keep of Kalessin also makes use of other instruments like the piano, keyboards and synthesizers. They started experimenting with a new sound which gave Keep of Kalessin it's new character after Obsidian C. recruited the new band-members Thebon, Wizziac and Vyl for their album Armada in 2006, the follow-up after Reclaim in 2003. Before Reclaim, the band had a much darker and colder character because of the different line-up they had back in the days. The line-up split in 2000, though Obsidian C. still wanted to make something of the band and the split-up wasn't the end of the band yet. He wanted to give Keep of Kalessin a unique character and devolped it's music and improved himself too as a musician and lyrics writer, but the band still needed a drummer which could keep up with his riffing and he couldn't find one in Trondheim. After nearly 3 years, the band Satyricon was in the need of a guitarist and Obsidian C. participated in the auditions and "played the ass off" some other 30 guitarists who also had applied for the job. He made it to the band and came in contact with one of the most renowned, fast and brutal black metal drummer Frost.

Obsidian C. didn't give up on Keep of Kalessin and as soon as Frost heard it's material, without hesitation, he immediately said yes when Obsidian C. asked him to do the drumming on his new EP. As the band's new guitarist, Obsidian C. also toured with the band and this made it possible to recruit Attila Csihar for his EP to do the vocals. This new line-up recorded Keep of Kalessin's new EP Reclaim and sky-rocketed the band into the elite black metal scene of Norway. But the line-up didn't last and fell apart because of the distances between the band members. Still, this wouldn't stop Obsidian C. and he was more and more determined to bring Keep of Kalessin to the masses. As part of Satyricon he toured a lot with the band and understood that touring is a must to promote a band. Not much later he teamed up with a new drummer he found, Vyl who had no difficulties to keep up with Obsidian C.'s fast riffing and became part of the band. Now the band still needed a vocalist and preferably a bassist as well. This is when Thebon and Wizziac became part of the band as the band's new vocalist and bassist.

Together, with Torstein Parelius - the lyric writer from their EP Reclaim - the new line-up spend 2 years to prepare and record their next album entitled Armada. This elevated the band up a higher place in the elite black metal scene of Norway and the band finally had a line-up which could last and made the band even more promising than before.