Band : Kamelot
Album title : Poetry For The Poisoned & Live From Wacken 2010
Label : Edel
Distributor : V2 Benelux
Release date : 16/04/2011
Release : 2CD

Through no fault of my own (fuckin' Hotmail occasionally does nót send through certain mails, even though they give the sender a sign that they have), this review did not get posted on time, as it was intended...but here it is anyway!

A much-needed rush job (only received this download promo two days ago) because Kamelot will be around playing gigs in the BeNeLux in the next couple of days (Paradiso Amsterdam on April 23, Antwerp's Hof ter Loo the day after, and Luxembourg's Den Atelier on April 29) for the second leg (the first one having happened from late March to mid August – dates in July and August concentrating on the Summer festivals) of their Pandemonium Over Europe Tour! Well, it won't be quite Kamelot as you know it, because due to continuing problems with frontman Roy Kahn's health (the end of which is apparently not in sight yet), his position for the touring has been taken in by Rhapsody Of Fire's Fabio Lione. So far, the exchange has brought the band no problems, because at the moment of speaking Lione has already successfully fronted the band during the Pandemonium Over South America 2011 tour (which went through Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Columbia before ending in Mexico), started on April 7.

About this release: as usual when the band starts out on a second leg in support of an album, there's bonuses...which this time comes in the form of a second disc including live recordings from the band's appearance at Wacken Open Air on August 6 of last year. With the album still to be released, the band nevertheless played the tracks “the Great Pandemonium” and “Hunter's Season” of the upcoming album. The other tracks are (in order of appearance) “Human Stain” (off the preceding 2007 album Ghost Opera), “Center Of the Universe” (off 2003's Epica), “Pendulous Fall” (off limited edition of Ghost Opera), ”Karma” and “Forever” (both off the 2001 album Karma) and “March Of Mephisto” (off 2005's The Black Halo). In total the 8 tracks give us a 47-minute bonus disc. I'm sure somehow that wasn't the whole of the band's show, because after all they were headliners that day! The first disc...nothing special about that, because it's the regular version of the original album (of which a review was posted on October 20 of last year). By the way, the special edition of that album included a bonus DVD including the video for “The Great Pandemonium”, a live At Norway Rock Festival 2010 feature, interviews with each Kamelot member, an “uncut version” of the track “House On The Hill” (bonus track available only on the US version of the album), and more.

Meanwhile...Kamelot has confirmed dates for an upcoming US tour starting late August...but there's no mention of whether Kahn will be back by then. As this is a re-issue, and the second disc is a live recording, I need not rate this...but when you go back to the review I made of the original album, you know how I feel about this band, don't you?

Tony.