Kamelot - Eternity
Noise Records
Proggish Powerish Metal
11 songs (51:24)
Release year: 1995
Kamelot, Noise Records
Reviewed by Ben
Archive review

Following a series of recent events, I found myself going on a deep dive through Kamelot's discography. I came on board the Kamelot train at the same time as I was introduced to Labyrinth. A friend of mine who I had shown underground melodic metal to had returned the favor with the discovery of these bands. Later on he would also let me know about Soilwork and Dark Tranquillity. Anyhoo, the newest album of ol' Bam Kannons at the time was The Fourth Legacy. From then on, I was a pretty hardcore fan. Because of this fanboy-ism, I decided to go back, back, to Cali, Cali, and revisit the "early era" of the band.

Let's be honest here, singer Roy Khan put this band on the map. Yes, Thomas' writing improved and became quite extraordinary, but he found the magic ingredient in Roy! But on this album there isn't Mr. Khan at the helm, it's some dude named Mark Vanderbilt. And man, in the world of Kamelot, he gets roasted harder than Charlie Dominici does in Dream Theater land. While he would improve on the next album, Dominion, here on Eternity he sounds at best like a very adequate Geoff Tate clone, and at worst, an over dramatic Midnight (from Crimson Glory) clone. Unfortunately for us, he ends up filling the second role more often than not. That isn't to say this whole album is a stinker because of him though. Eternity feels like an album length demo, more so than even real album length demos like Angels Fall First from Nightwish. The reason I say this is because the ideas presented here are very primitive. There are flashes of decency, but this feels amateurish. For one, there is a very obvious lyrical obsession with the sea. The title track and Call Of The Sea are just two that immediately spring to mind. Also, it isn't until track five, Red Sands, that the tempo finally picks up. Up until that point we got mid tempo, plodding, Savatage b-sides. No, not piano Savatage, but the riffing from Thomas Youngblood is very much in line with some the 'Tage's slowest metal songs. Once again, this adds to the "demo feel" being that they are from Florida as well and are an obvious influence.

This is definitely a humble beginning! From the cliche, cheesey, low budget keyboard intro, to the lyrical themes, this is playing into the stereotype of bad Power Metal. This really should have been a demo... BUT! There is hope! What all the naysayers about the band today don't realize, is that part of the bad assery of Kamelot was their TREMENDOUS growth from one album to the next that went on for quite some time. Longer than most band's careers. So yea, Eternity sucks ass. But without it we wouldn't get the next album which is a vast improvement over everything here. Onward to Dominion!

Killing Songs :
... no comment
Ben quoted 50 / 100
Other albums by Kamelot that we have reviewed:
Kamelot - Siege Perilous reviewed by Ben and quoted 75 / 100
Kamelot - Dominion reviewed by Ben and quoted 66 / 100
Kamelot - Haven reviewed by Joel and quoted 93 / 100
Kamelot - Silverthorn reviewed by Cory and quoted 84 / 100
Kamelot - Poetry for the Poisoned reviewed by Thomas and quoted 86 / 100
To see all 13 reviews click here
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