Metal Reviews

I don't have any links, buy it on iTunes.

Anyway:

Oh well, this may not be Black Halo but who expected it to? This is one of those few bands I just can't write off as trash just like that, I even liked, no, loved some of the stuff they did on Poetry even if it was mostly lackluster.

The chorus here is magic and I wish they had poured more of that into the rest of the song but damn, I have spun this the whole fucking evening and I'm singing along like a maniac here.

Karevik is a good fit. He's not as soft as he is with Seventh Wonder which was one of my fears. My other is that this, or the chorus here, is the power metal we get with this album. Poetry had Hunter's Season and that was that.

Yeah, this. This is my main fear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwV011buF3w

Is this it? Dude sounds a lot like Khan

Now I want to listen to some prog/power metals.

I listened to the whole thing when it was briefly on youtube and with that and the teaser acoustic song that was played on youtube I'm stoked for this release.

Same here. The full song leaked for all of about 20 minutes, I just lucked into stumbling across it. The song is strong, and I agree that the difference between his voice and Khan's is minimal (Khan uses more inflection in his voice compared to this song).

For me, even just a solid enjoyable overall album will be a success. Poetry has not aged well at all, and I cannot remember the last time I listened to Ghost Opera. Too busy with Karma, Epica, and Black Halo to notice it.

Wow, I don't even think casual fans will notice the difference. He kinda looks like Khan as well. They did great in realizing he isn't limited to the way he sings in Seventh Wonder.

I really like the song so I bought it from iTunes and then went to Amazon to pre-order the box set for this release.

What's in the box set? Is it worth it?

Sounds exactly like Roy Khan mixed with Ryan Cabrera's voice. And that's coming from someone that notices tiny differences in singers from album to album and never thinks two people sound the same. At least this guy is smart enough to add enough of his own tone to not destroy it in the attempt. I don't mind anyone doing someone else's vocal style, especially when they are doing that person's material, but it's slightly unnecessary to not make your own stuff your own.

The material on the other hand sounded a bit redundant. Sounded basically like "Forever" mixed with their more recent sound. I don't think their sound is compelling enough for them to not keep moving forward.

Both of things add up to them playing things very safe, which this would have been the time to move forward a bit. I seriously hope they don't end up doing the same things they've done before in different arrangements.

I just finished listening to the whole thing (yes it has leaked). I normally always pre order Kamelot albums since it's always a no brainer for me but waited for this one due to the vocalist change.

And ? Let's just say that as soon as the last song ended i immediately went to Amazon to order the limited edition. This is great stuff and Tommy Karevik is a fantastic replacement. Wasn't familiar with his stuff with Seventh Wonder but the guy can sing just as good as Khan. The whole thing is catchy as fuck , great melodies , choruses and emotion. This is going to one of the , if not the , top power metal CD of the year for me. Just superb.

Im not sure Kamelot can do anything wrong, These guys put out great material albums after albums. Awesome band

Hey, sorry it takes me so long to answer. The box set looks like it's the same thing that Nightwish did with 'Dark Passion Play' when they offered the regular album along with an instrumental version. I like the instrumental stuff so I should be happy with it. There should probably be an extended booklet of some sort.

Listened to the new album a few times now. The singer is great, the album is not. Too much mid tempo bullshit, as usual with power metal these days. There's no urgency or emotion in the choruses, it's just bland.

Kamelot hasn't been straight forward power metal for very long time.
(The Black Halo had at most 3 typical power metal songs). so no surprise there. I actually prefer a lot of their mid tempo songs over their power metal songs, so as long as those are solid it's all good.

Off Poetry:
Once upon a time is definitely power metal and most of the Great Pandemonium as well.

Personally, I thought Poetry was a big step up from Ghost Opera. I guess i'm one of the rare people who enjoyed it quite a bit.

Good for you, I hope you enjoy the album.

I think Kamelot is moving away from power metal and I thought The Black Halo was typical power metal. Just listen to songs like Falling Like the Fahrenheit for comparison, never have they sounded as bad. Holy shit it's bad.

Yeah pretty much this. Their last album that was close to a full power metal offering was Epica. Kamelot is all about melodies these days and that's fine with me as it fit my tastes and is different than all the Dragonforce of this world.

And i love their mid tempo stuff too. Still very melodic and catchy. I cannot agree with EOF who says that Silverthorn is not emotional. Personally i hear the complete opposite and like pretty much every songs on the album except maybe the title track who is a bit average imho.

I'd say its more in the mold of Ghost Opera when it come to mood.

Ive gotten a few listens under my belt, and thus far I am very pleased with this album. The first and most notable improvement is that Thomas has put some teeth back into his guitar playing. I feel that Poetry, and to a lesser extent Ghost Opera, were very uninspired in the riff department. A couple of you pointed out that Kamelot was more of a melodic metal band than a power metal band at this point, and with Poetry that was true, but Silverthorn bears more of a resemblance to The Black Halo than either of the previous two.

As for the new singer, I believe he has done a nice job in filling the void left by Khan in a way that doesnt raise any eyebrows. While not a clone of Khan, he certainly matches the emotive qualities. The big improvement I see here is that he uses a more straight foward approach to his singing, less vibrato and other techniques that I feel Khan was over using on the last two albums.