| CD REVIEW Kamelot |
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Band : Kamelot The first thing I thought when I saw the cover of Kamelot's long-awaited new album was, “Gee, what a gloomy and ugly artwork!”, but of course it was the band's intent to give the album such a compelling look! Their previous album dates back to June 2007's released Ghost Opera (review by yours truly, with history-of-the-band, posted 10/06/2007), and a special edition (including bonus tracks and bonus DVD with the video recording of the band's 2007 concert in Belgrade, Serbia...which already contained 4 songs of the upcoming album) titled Ghost Opera: The Second Coming (review with updates on the band posted 25/03/2008) was issued late March 2008. Later that year Kamelot (already mentioned in the latter review) went on a North-American tour with support act Edguy in October-November, and in January 2009 they started work on their next album, writing the new material in a cabin in Norway. In December it was announced that bassist Glenn Barry had officially left the band. To replace him the band promoted touring fall-in guy Sean Tibbetts to permanent member of the band. As a whole, the band took their time in pre-production, perfecting their songs one and all, and only in January of this year did the band reveal a couple of song titles. In the next couple of months, they announced collaborations by Epica's Simone Simons (duet vocals to the ballad “House On A Hill” and additional lead vocals to two parts of the 4-part album title song) and Firewind/ Ozzy's Gus G (guitar solo to “Hunter's Season”). Meanwhile, I also came to know about more guest appearances: American singer Amanda Somerville (added backing vocals to “The Zodiac” and the album title track), Jon Oliva (additional vocals to “The Zodiac”), and Björn “Speed” Strid (screams/ grunts to album opener “The Great Pandemonium”, the first song for which the band made a video, and in which Björn is also featured). Just like for their previous album, Kamelot started their Pandemonium Over Europe Tour in promotion of the new album ahead of the release, playing European stages between March 25 and April 26. During September rehearsals for an upcoming North American tour in the Fall, singer Roy Kahn fell severely ill, and originally it was announced that the band would do the tour with Norwegian singer Michael Erikson, but later they decided to postpone the tour until Kahn recovered from his illness. At this moment, the only future gigs reported are for a South-American tour in April 2011. Coming back to the album...it seems almost impossible, but each time Kamelot ups the ante, and this time they've really made it worthwhile to work on the album as long as they did. From start to finish, there isn't one song lesser than the other, each of 'em containing top performances from everyone involved, including the guests...and with 15 tracks lasting a total of just over 54 minutes, fans of the band really get their money's worth! Just listen to the two medleys the band posted of the album at myspace.com/kamelot, and dare tell me I'm wrong! This time around, special editions of the album come at the beginning, it being available in different formats: regular CD, Limited Edition (CD/DVD), Strictly Limited Edition (CD + 7-inch vinyl with 2 bonus tracks), and double LP vinyl (incuding digital download code). Different labels, different working ethics, so it would seem! Meanwhile, the material itself surely deserves being nominated for that “best Albums Of 2010”-list of mine! The only thing I find less interesting about this album is the bonus track, a cover of 1996's “Where The Wild Roses Grow”, a duet between Nick Cave (And The Bad Seeds) with Kylie Minogue. In spite of being the best by Cave and cohorts (in my own personal opinion), this version adds absolutely nothing, staying qite faithful to the original (I wonder whom's being murdered there though!). 98/100 Tony. |