Album Review: K L P S – K L P S (These Hands Melt)

K L P S, the Swedish post-metal and sludge band from Helsingborg, Sweden, known for their heavy sound and atmospheric compositions, will release their highly anticipated self-titled album on March 7th, 2025. The album will be available through These Hands Melt, a label known for promoting innovative and boundary-pushing music.

Offering up an intense sound, explosive and destructive, that draws from the more extreme chaotic side of metal, you might think that you have the measure of K L P S at first. However, their music is more nuanced than first impressions might allude too. Don’t be surprised to hear melody, to experience atmosphere, and feel something beyond aggression. It’s all about the layers, and this is an album with a lot of them.

That being said, as dynamic as they can be, savage and garish heaviness is still a key component of their sound, and the opening track Subverse hits hard. Still, the midpoint melodic drop and deeper exploration into post afterwards is what truly makes it stand out as an opening track. From there, it’s just creative track after creative track.

Katarsis comes next and takes a methodical approach, one that brings such intense instrumental heft and raw vocal screams. It batters away for a few minutes and then dissipates into silence. Is it over? Not even close, it’s evolving, and the latter half is such a display of their power.

Then there is Tribulation, a wandering showcase of ruthlessness and beauty, akin to a feverish nightmare. Before Nattsvart creates even more mood-altering vibes with deeper darkness and, somehow, an even more violent style of heaviness. It might seem ‘par for the course’ to point that out, but K L P S keep on finding new depths to sink too and do an incredible job of making this kind of noise so appealing.

Which it is, provided you have an ear for the extreme and can appreciate that it’s not just heaviness that makes this album so effective.

What does makes it so effective is its fluctuating power and how that creates a whole new level of discordant and discombobulating noise. No further proof needed than Undertow, one of the weightiest tracks of all, and Aureola, one of the most expansive tracks of all. Together they make up the latter part of the album and ensure the entire experience is one few will forget.

Remarkably creative, extremely interesting, abrasive, but quite listenable, even if it doesn’t quite grasp you the way it has me, you’ll still likely find yourself fascinated by what K L P S have crafted here.

K L P S – K L P S Track Listing:

1. Subverse
2. Katarsis
3. Tribulation
4. Nattsvart
5. Undertow
6. Aureola

K L P S Links

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