KAMELOT
The Black Halo
SPV Records
8/10
With the band's eighth release, Kamelot displays a refined, highly melodic brand of power metal that is poignantly compelling throughout the entire listen. With The Black Halo, the band melds the power metal genre with Queensryche- influenced songwriting, incorporating smatterings of tasteful electronic elements, giving these tracks a modern edge that seperates the group from the traditional power metal pack.
Punctuated by an excellent job of production courtesy of Sascha Paeth and Miro that is crystal clear, yet punchy and powerful, the sounds of Kamelot burst through your speakers with an assertiveness many groups of this kind simply cannot maintain. The Black Halo is commercially accessible, and it is easy to imagine 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 imparts a truly epic presence. The songs are larger than life and the best comparison that could be made is that this is Kamelot's "Operation:Mindcrime".
Each song gives way to the next with fluidity, 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 that he is both a proficient composer as well as a top notch six string wizard, offering up richly dynamic textures on the axe. He places 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 each track 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!
Written by: Powerlord
