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Band Name: Kamelot
Album Name: The Black Halo
Rating: 4 / 5 User Rating: 3.8 / 5
Label: Steamhammer
Buy Album: Amazon.com
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Tracklist
March Of Mephisto
When The Lights Are Down
The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)
Soul Society
Interlude I: Dei Gratia
Abandoned
This Pain
Moonlight
Interlude II: Un Assassinio Molto Silenzioso
The Black Halo
Nothing Ever Dies
Memento Mori
Interlude III: Midnight - Twelve Tolls For A New Day
Serenade
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On their eighth release, Kamelot display a refined brand of power metal that is compelling throughout the entire listen. With 'The Black Halo', the band melds the power metal genre with Queensryche influenced songwriting, as well as incorporating some tasteful electronic elements that give the tracks a modern edge that sets the band apart from the traditional power metal pack.
The album is highlighted by an excellent job of production courtesy of Sascha Paeth and Miro that is crystal clear, yet punchy and powerful. The material is commercially accessible, and it is easy to see several of these songs breaking big on rock radio. Overall, this album has a much darker feel than the band's previous offerings, although the masterful vocal work of singer Khan is strictly focused on creating strong harmonies with an emphasis on melodic overtones.
This is an album that gives you the type of feeling that you're listening to a truly epic composition. The songs are larger than life and the best comparison that could be made is that this is Kamelot's 'Operation:Mindcrime'. Every song here flows into the next quite well, with many surprises along the way, and the amazing vocals of Khan putting an exclamation point on the quality musicianship of the group.
Thomas Youngblood shows here that he is both a proficient composer as well as a top notch six string wizard, offering up richly dynamic textures and placing just the right amount of emphasis needed for each song part in order to achieve maximum artistic impact.
Standout tracks include 'March Of Mephisto', 'Abandoned' and 'Moonlight', but every track here is an excellent marriage of metal and melody that will give fans of power metal, progressive music, and just plain awesome music in general something to be very excited about in March 2005!
Review by: EF
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