Kamelot

[Zook]

He sounds great, but the lyrics ruin it.

[Lethean]

Hey FW - my rankings:

Ghost Opera
Poetry for the Poisoned
The Black Halo

Karma
The Fourth Legacy
Epica

Didn't listen to the older stuff enough to comment.

[The Walrus]

Hey FW - my rankings:

Ghost Opera
Poetry for the Poisoned
The Black Halo

Karma
The Fourth Legacy
Epica

Didn't listen to the older stuff enough to comment.

  This is a good ranking of those albums. Well done. I had a strong feeling you'd have Halo through Poetry ranked high.

[Nick]

The Black Halo
The Fourth Legacy
Epica
Karma

Ghost Opera

Stuff not worth listening to again.

[Adami]

Ugh I hate ratings, but whatever.

1. Black Halo
2. Epica
3. Fourth Legacy
4. Karma
5. Silverthorn
6. Siege
7. Haven
8. Poetry
9. Ghost


Keep in mind 6-9 are just random at this point. I like 1-5 a lot. Then I like 6-9 way less.

[ErHaO]

Pretty atypical list from me (in terms of no. 1, at least), but here is my top 5:

1. Silverthorn
2. Black Halo
3. Karma
4. Epica
5. Fourth Legacy

Other ones are about equal to me, save for the pre-Roy stuff which I never bother aftering hearing one song.

[jingle.boy]

He's back!!!! 

Yeah, I saw that the other day, and at first thought it was an April Fool's joke.  Beautiful track.  I'll believe he's "back" when I see something about an album release.

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

My Shadow Theory "earbook" arrived today! Wasn't expecting that until Friday.

If you don't know, the earbook is the size of an LP, and it's basically a hard cover book with the CDs inside and tons of nice artwork. The pages were nice and heavy, the lyrics were easy to read, and there were so many nice pictures of the band.

Most of the early reviews said that Casey Grillo was on the album, and left right afterwards. That's not right. Johan Nunez is on drums on Shadow Theory. I'll say his drum parts sound good and are interesting. I guess you can tell the style is just a bit different from Casey. But I've only been through the album once and it was hard to concentrate on the drums on the first play.

So, like I said... I've sat down and actively listed to it all once, so all I can do is give first impressions.

The album is dense, packed full. Just overwhelming. Melodies are strong throughout, with unique and themed lyrics. The 2 guest female vocalists are used sparingly. Not a gimmick, a nice addition. This is what you like Kamelot for. If you aren't into them... the 2 singles they released are the ones to hear, I suppose.

Anyway - I love it. But it will take a week to get familiar enough to do a proper review. This is dense, proggy, heavy (and kinda weird) music.

[wolfking]

I'm really hoping to like this one a lot more than the last two.

[soupytwist]

Just downloaded it this morning, about to start listening. 

[soupytwist]

First listen. 

Tracks that stood out (I hadn't heard anything from this album till this first listen) - Ravenlight, Amnesiac (probably the standout), Burns to Embrace, Static, Vesperine and I also liked the bonus track The Last Day of Sunlight.

On the flipside - Kevlar Skin sounded like a lot of bombast but very little nuance and the big ballad 'Twilight Hours' sounded quite cheesy (disney).

To early to judge where this ranks, and to be honest I'm still to new to this band in general to do that (only discovered them about 10 weeks ago  )

[The Walrus]

Cheesy never bothers me in music, so that means I'll probably love that track. 

[soupytwist]

Couple more plays and I'm starting to get a real feel for this now.  Timeline wise this album feels like it would fit between Poetry and Silverthorn.  It takes some of the darker, heavier and nastier tones of Poetry and combines that with the style of Silverthorn.   

The two released tracks 'Phantom Divide' and 'Ravenlight' are interesting choices as they are very much the 'Haven' sounding songs - but this album isn't just a Haven Version2 - It's not doing anything to far removed from their standard sound, but it's more interesting than just being a carbon copy of Haven which people may think from those two tracks.

[The Walrus]

Are the lyrics on the whole album as maudlin as the last couple albums? I don't really know what they're saying when they say "ravenlight" or "a symphony of coming winters" - just sounds really trite and generic.

[Evermind]

Alright, I gave this album one listen today at work. I doubt I will spin it again. There are some moments here are there (some parts in The Proud and the Broken are epic as hell, but the chorus is killing the song for me), but overall I thought this was bland and uninspired. Phantom Divine ended up being one of the better tracks for me, actually. The most interesting thing about this album is probably growls. I don't know. I won't be buying this for sure.

Are the lyrics on the whole album as maudlin as the last couple albums? I don't really know what they're saying when they say "ravenlight" or "a symphony of coming winters" - just sounds really trite and generic.

From my first impression, they are, if not actually worse. These double words like "RavenLight" or "MindFall Remedy" is one thing, the rhymes like "uncover me / discover me" in Kevlar Skin is another.

[MirrorMask]

Heard it too... I agree that it's nothing more and nothing less than a Kamelot album. I'd say that if you take an uneducated Kamelot fan who's just starting with the band, make him a mix compilation of some songs off Haven and some others off this one and sell it as a single allbum, they wouldn't be even able to notice something's wrong, since the sound and the style is so similar.

[jingle.boy]

Just spun about 40 minutes of it while walking the dogs.  Definitely Kamelot paint(play)-by-numbers.  Nothing I haven't heard from them before.  It's not that I disliked anything, but nothing grabbed my attention.  I'll save it on Spotify and maybe spin it randomly, but here's where my purchases of Kamelot likely cease.  And given their show is on a Monday evening, over an hour from where I live, I've seen Delain twice with them, and couldn't care less about Battle Beast... the chances of me going to the show are slim-to-none.

[The Walrus]

Just got done listening to it at the gym. It's... I don't know. I think I enjoyed the first listen more than the first listens for Silverthorn and Haven, but that's not saying much. Lots of bands have their 'formula' so to speak but this is just so darn predictable and it's a shame given how talented they are. It feels like another album cranked through the Kamelot factory in every way. "Phantom Divine" = "Veil of Elysium" = "Sacrimony"...

I really enjoyed Oliver's lead voice and his solos, it's nice when he does something besides piano and the "Kamelot strings" even if it's just a synth lead. And Tommy does a wonderful job as always. New guy on drums doesn't stand out a whole lot although I like the moments where he picks it up to double bass power metal drumming.

[cramx3]

Yea, I had one listen through and it's Haven pt2.  It's almost like an exact replica.  The new drummer doesn't stand out at all.  The most noticeable thing is some new lead keyboard tones that sound interesting, but it's essentially the same music being played.   The Proud and The Broken might be the most interesting song on the album, and it comes too late as the last song.  If they were more creative with some more songs going off the beaten formula, they could of produced something better overall.

[Zook]

Kamelot's new album is a collection of songs...

There's some good stuff sprinkled throughout, but I don't think I'll be purchasing this one.

[MirrorMask]

Everyone else on social media is nuts for this. I've scrolled around some Kamelot pages, everyone is praising the record. You think you'd find at least someone complaing but now, we're literally the only people on the web so far who are underwhelmed by the same old same old feel of this record (and mind you, I loved Haven a lot and I still do)...

[Adami]

Everyone else on social media is nuts for this. I've scrolled around some Kamelot pages, everyone is praising the record. You think you'd find at least someone complaing but now, we're literally the only people on the web so far who are underwhelmed by the same old same old feel of this record (and mind you, I loved Haven a lot and I still do)...

All of the actual reviews I've read have agreed with the people here.

For the most part, though, I'm pretty sure that unless it's REALLY Bad or extremely different then the bands' social media pages will always be filled with praise upon a new release.

And for the most part, the big masses do generally tend to what to hear the same thing over and over and over. There's a reason most big bands don't change up set lists or styles much. It keeps the masses happy to be very repetitive.

[The Walrus]

Everyone else on social media is nuts for this. I've scrolled around some Kamelot pages, everyone is praising the record. You think you'd find at least someone complaing but now, we're literally the only people on the web so far who are underwhelmed by the same old same old feel of this record (and mind you, I loved Haven a lot and I still do)...

Actually the US Power Metal Connection Facebook page (a very popular community) is equally disappointed and or lukewarm on it too. I think the formula is starting to fatigue a lot of people.

[NoseofNicko]

So I just realized I own Poetry for the Poisoned (probably bought it back when it came out and forgot about it). Gonna listen to it for the first time (I think) tonight. Why is it considered one of their weakest albums?

[ErHaO]

I think it is a decent album but not one I will return to outside of a few songs. While the album does nothing new, I don't think it is exactly like Haven. It sounds more like the second half of their discography condensed into a solid, but predictable whole, if that makes any sense.

That said, the reviews here have been solid to great for this album (some 6-7, but also a good amount of 8's or higher) and a significant chunk of their fans seem to love it. I think Kamelot is a band that has some pretty different groups of fans, also in terms of age. But personally speaking I don't think I will love this one, despite my enthusiasm for Silverthorn and Haven.

But in general trying to grasp a consensus on the internet between different communities is near impossible. Even when something has millions of viewers/followers, only a very small subset actually puts their thoughts out there (usually less than a percent).

[NoseofNicko]

'The Zodiac' for me is the worst Kamelot song i've heard

I expected a really bad song after reading that, but I’m listening to it right now and I like it a lot. The chorus is great imo.

[The Walrus]

'The Zodiac' for me is the worst Kamelot song i've heard

I expected a really bad song after reading that, but I’m listening to it right now and I like it a lot. The chorus is great imo.

I love Jon Oliva's verse.  So damn metal! I love everything about The Zodiac. 

[NoseofNicko]

'The Zodiac' for me is the worst Kamelot song i've heard

I expected a really bad song after reading that, but I’m listening to it right now and I like it a lot. The chorus is great imo.

I love Jon Oliva's verse.  So damn metal! I love everything about The Zodiac. 

Yeah that’s a good part. Love Jon Oliva.

Anyway, less than 10 minutes of Poetry left to listen to and I think it’s really good. Had 3.16 on Rate Your Music and my rating (4) bumped it up to 3.17.

[The Walrus]

Are you ending with Once Upon A Time? Freaking great closer track, actually kind of a happier piece. There are a couple cool bonus tracks although the title of one is totally redundant (Thespian Drama).

[MirrorMask]

For the most part, though, I'm pretty sure that unless it's REALLY Bad or extremely different then the bands' social media pages will always be filled with praise upon a new release.

You don't check out often DT's FB page, do you? 

(And yeah, I know that The Astonishing falls in the extremely different category you actually mentioned)

I love Jon Oliva's verse.

Well, doesn't this apply to 99% Jon Oliva ever sang? 

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Three spins onto TST and I want to like it more than I do. The early standouts are Burns to Embrace and The Proud and the Broken. Hopefully the rest will grow on me, but overall an underwhelming experience.

[MirrorMask]

Kevlar Skin is my early favorite. But yeah, Burns to Embrace is also good, with the catchy chorus.

[soupytwist]

I find it an enjoyable album - I'm new to the band though and only really digested their discography in the last 3 months (Karma onwards).  I'd personally say The Black Halo is their outstanding album 9/10, and Poetry is their weakest 5/10 - all their other albums for me fall together in a very good collection of songs 7 or 8/10 standard.

[The Walrus]

On yet another listen - I find 3/4, generally, annoying as a tempo for speedy power metal songs. All three lead singles for the last 3 albums have been in 3/4 (this includes Phantom Divine). It just becomes more obviously formulaic, predictable, and boring the more I hear it. "Amnesiac" is a pretty cool song and I wish that was the single instead, but I'm also more of a straightforward, 4/4 type guy when it comes to that speedy power metal goodness. "My Crimson Bride" is still one of my favorites on the album: come day, come night, my crimson bride~ - I actually really like that.

Some of the choruses on this album are still really strong, even in Phantom Divine, but it's the rest of the songs that fall into the predictable trappings which is unfortunate. It's a problem Epica has seemed to have for many years now: strong choruses but ever-so-samey riffs and verses. At least Kamelot doesn't go into the political territory, not often anyway 

[soupytwist]

I'd agree with 'Amnesiac' and 'My Crimson Bride' being standouts together with 'Burns To Embrace' and 'Static'.
The cool thing about this band is ever album has at least 3 really awesome tracks on them, and I can honest say there isn't one song that I actively dislike - 'The Zodiac' remains my least favorite, but that isn't a terrible skip track.