Metal Reviews

I like all the Khan era Kamelot release up to Black Halo, this one probably needs more time but it hasn't excited me yet. Not like those earlier ones that I played so many times, I keep going back to the new Death Angel instead.

I actually agree with noodles here, as a Kamelot fan I'm finding this album to be quite boring with The Great Pandemonium and Hunter's Season being the exceptions. The title track parts seem to promise something along the lines of the awesome, awesome Elizabeth trilogy they did in Karma... but it doesn't even begin to compare to the awesomeness of the latter.

Maybe further listenings are required but after hearing the album twice, I still feel disappointed and I have to admit this is the worst Kamelot album by far.

No way it has far less filler than Ghost Opera. Not the worst album even by a longshot.

Excluding the first couple of albums + fourth legacy I assume. Two spins are far from enough though.

The Fourth Legacy it's way better than Pandemonium. The title track is better than the whole pandemonium thing

+1, although I do have to admit it's growing on me. The thing is appreciating a Kamelot album used to always be immediate.

Yep, so I'm still finding this one to bepretty boring. I'm willing to give it more chances, since The Black Halo took a long time for me to get into, but aside from a few great tracks (Great Pandemonium, Hunter's Season, Once Upon a Time), there's not much happening here.

Seriously?!

Yes? When I first heard the Black Halo I enjoyed a few songs (March of Mephisto, When the Lights are Down, Serenade), hated The Haunting and Abandoned, and thought mostly everything else was pretty uninteresting. That album was a pretty big shift in style for the band, and it took a while for me to enjoy it. Now it's one of my favourite power metal albums.

There are some ballad-y songs that are annoying as well on that album.

The Black Halo never clicked with me, maybe i should give it another chance but IMO their last good album is Epica.

I love every single album Kamelot has released with Khan on vocal duties. Obviously I like some more like Epica and some less like Siege Perilious but there was always more things I enjoyed on their albums than things I did not. So it all balances positively for me.

What I like the most about Kamelot is that they are not afraid of trying out new things. They have a nice progression into power metal peaking with Epica and then slowly mixing it more with other styles and progressive elements. From The Black Halo up to Their latest release you can't really call them power metal because to me they are not. Well at least not in the classic definition of the term like Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray are to the genre.

When Ghost Opera was released, I was a little disappointed but years have passed and I enjoy it more than ever. The fact that Their albums are never the same (they do have common elements of course but the differences out weights them IMO) makes them stand the test of time. I can still listen to Epica or Karma and feel the awesomeness.

As for Poetry for the Poisoned, you'll be unsurprised to learn that I am not one bit disappointed! The opening track is one of their best with an original vocal style from Roy's part and no clear weak tracks can be found IMO. Less enjoyable tracks maybe, but it all comes down to a matter of taste.

Just wanted to bump this to say that this is indeed a grower. At first i only liked a couple of songs and thought it was average but now after many spins and some time sticking with it i love pretty much every songs except for Dear Editor which is more of an interlude anyway.

People have mixed feelings about The Zodiac and i didn't really like it at first but now i think it's brilliant.

Good stuff

Im glad you brought this back up, cause I never remembered to post on it.

I agree that it is a grower, but not as much as I would have liked. I still think The Zodiac is brilliant, and that Hunters Season is awesome, but the majority of the album still falls flat. Mostly it has a good, but they have done much better, feel to it. The title epic has way too much disorientation to it, and ends up falling flat. Their weakest since Fourth Legacy.

If I had to order their albums since Kahn best to worst:

Epica, The Black Halo, Karma, The Fourth Legacy, Ghost Opera, and Poetry (I havent listened to Siege Perilous or anything before).

for me it's Epica, Karma, Black Halo, Poetry, Ghost Opera, Fourth Legacy, Siege Perilous.

Big Kamelot fan and I'll never understand why Epica and Karma are rated so high. They're alright but they're a bit more standard power metal than their later work.

Karma may be "standard power metal" but Epica is far from being just that. It was a great mix of power and prog perfect exemple of this is the song On The Edge of Paradise. Like the title of the album implies it's epic! Simply put it's their best album IMO.

I would also say that, while certainly the traditional Power Metal sound, there is nothing standard about Karma. I have heard very few albums in the genre that can match the energy and pure joy of that album. Not a wasted note, each song is great in its own right, and this was also the point where they were at their lyric writing peak.

TBH,Epica,Karma,Ghost Opera,TFL,PFTP and Siege Perilous for me.

Epica and Karma have their own uniqueness to them. I wouldn't call both albums standard power metal since there is more meat in those albums then standard power metal albums out there.

I mean Hammerfall's Crimson Thunder is standard power metal but I wouldn't even compare that to albums like Epica and Karma.