Lord Kesseli in Love with Everyone…

Out now via Irascible Records is “I Was in Love”, album number three from Lord Kesseli & the Drums. The Lord himself, Dominik Kesseli, and his partner, drummer and percussionist Michael Gallusser, are without the shadow of a doubt one of the most difficult-to-describe outfits ever to grace the stages of Switzerland.

Perhaps best, then, to stick to their own words: “Synthetic science fiction sound worlds with analogue raging textures”, as they once wrote. The contrast between Kesseli’s angelic vocals and the rage of his lyrics has grown considerably bigger in recent times and their wall of electronic/analogue sound has acquired Wagnerian heft. Take as an example the title track. It begins with a party so good the narrator falls in love with “everyone” and ends with the same narrator taking his “Swiss army gun” and shooting the same “everyone”.

Lord Kesseli & the Drum hail from the increasingly musically important Eastern Swiss town of St. Gallen. With their first record, released in 2016, creating a “vibe” somewhere between the horror of “Rosemary’s Baby” and the absurdity of “Eraserhead”, they were an instant hit, especially as their live shows totally fulfilled the dark promise of their records. After releasing a second LP, “Melodies of Immortality” (2018), Kesseli and Gallusser worked with local heroes Stahlberger and teamed up with the monumentally heavy Asbest from Basel for a mini-LP, “Altari”.

Lord Kesseli & the Drums
Irascible