Have You Heard... Kettama's 'Archangel'?

Album Artwork by Reece Owen (@reece.owen) and @super_goog, artwork reproduced not-for-profit, and in compliance with Aus Copyright Law

Ireland-based producer Kettama has steadily been building a reputation as one of the loudest, most recognisable names in the mainstream’s electronic and techno scenes. His fluid brand of hard-hitting house-infused, techno and EDM has filled a wide variety of venues across the globe, earning himself that reputation, as well as that of a DJ who doesn’t dabble in subtlety. Granted, I wasn’t the biggest fan heading into his debut full-length album, ‘Archangel,’ (released on the 3rd of October, 2025), I was pleasantly surprised to hear an album with more range and nuance than I initially expected.

Beginning of 'Archangel'

For me, ‘Archangel’ had two main starting points. The titular album opener introduced the listener to the album’s space-y, atmospheric aesthetic, while the track ‘split in two minds (featuring seantommy)’ slowly ramped up the dynamics for Kettama’s signature brand of high-energy dance music. By the time the track 'Yosemite' (featuring Interplanetary Criminal) was in full swing, ‘Archangel’s’ massive, made-for-festival-sized speakers, production had kicked in, and it gave me the feeling that a rave was happening all in my headphones. To highlight some favourites, my top three would easily be ‘Fade Away (It’s a Feeling),’ ‘Airmaxes - KETTAMA Mix,’ and ‘Gotta Have It,’ in that order respectively. 

Highlights

‘Fade Away (It’s a Feeling)’ fused 90s-inspired synth stabs with modern, low-end bass and a sleek female vocal sample (repeated line of “It’s a feeling”). This combination made for an infectiously dancey track and the same could be said for ‘Gotta Have It.’ ‘Gotta Have It’ is modern house music at its finest, masterful synth work, a catchy vocal sample, some precise 808 and bass use, as well as some really nice dynamic work combined to create one of ‘Archangel’s’ best entries. Aside from those two tracks, I wanted to highlight ‘Airmaxes - KETTAMA mix’ in particular, as I felt it was super representative of all the elements that make ‘Archangel’ such a solid album.

The intro to this track lulls the listener into a fall sense of security, with dreamy, piano-led atmospherics taking the focal point under some vocals, before transitioning into a heavy drum & bass-inspired rush of adrenaline. What I loved so much about these tracks (and what surprised me the most), was that they’re still so recognisably Kettama, but with so much depth than I expected. Overall, the sound design could be best described as cinematic, packed with equal parts euphoria, as well as exhaustion, and I thought that worked so damn well in immersing me into the world of ‘Archangel.’ 

Experimentation Present

When ‘Archangel’ was at its best, it was either during these tracks in particular, or when Kettama was experimenting with sounds. This album is packed full with so many ambient tracks and it wasn’t something I was expecting at all. ‘11th of January’ was my favourite use of this ambience, as it sounded completely different to everything else featured on ‘Archangel.’ Instead of featuring Kettama’s unique blend of various dance-based genres, this track is carried by strings, a piano line, and some huge walls of synth. While there were points that made me feel like they were escalating to a massive drop, they always stayed at this medium, atmospheric volume/vibe and I found this track to be massively refreshing when compared to the strong majority of the album. 

Missteps

The biggest misstep for ‘Archangel,’ however, was some of the repetition that was featured. Unfortunately, I was un-engaged for some of the tracks that I found to be repetitive or that sounded the same as others. Personally, I could lump the tracks ‘Take Me,’ ‘Man With A Second Face,’ ‘I Believe’ and ‘It Gets Better - Forever Mix’ together as a result of how similar they sounded to each other. Although there were minor differences in terms of melodic lines and vocal samples, the similar sounding basslines, as well as, the similarly timed dynamic drops led me to finding these tracks just a little bit boring, or uninspired. 

Despite this, though, I overall really enjoyed this album and that was something I definitely wasn’t expecting coming in. Dropping my pre-conceived ideas of Kettama’s sound coming into this record worked really well, and I think it allowed me to completely, objectively enjoy this release, regardless of its missteps. Even if ‘Archangel’ isn’t a complete reinvention, I definitely thought it was a step forward, especially for casual fans of his like me. Here, Kettama seems more aware of atmospherics and dynamics, giving the listener moments of space between the heavier-sounding, dance-based tracks.

While this may not be fully-present for ‘Archangel’s’ duration, this album shows Kettama doing what he does best - pushing volume, velocity and different vibes to their limits, all the while mixing it up enough to keep things interesting.