Kamelot – Silverthorn (2012)

Bouncing back from losing their signature vocalist Roy Khan, today we have Kamelot and their tenth full-length release “Silverthorn”. In this album, the band shakes off the loss with twelve epic tracks of very Symphonic Progressive Power Metal fronted by their new vocalist Tommy Karevik and a wide varied of guest vocalists (female) as well as some killer choir arrangements. The band’s sound seems bit more dark and gothic in this release, but the change of vocalist has really been minimized by Karevik’s excellent singing abilities and the band’s music writing skills.

With keyboards and orchestrations in charge of Oliver Palotai, the band opens with a the very symphonic “Manus Dei”. In this intro track, the band indeed sounds more like Epica or Therion than Kamelot. Thomas Youngblood’s riffing is finally felt on the opening of “Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)”, a track that actually sounds a bit like Within Temptation in their “Mother Earth” era. This changes once Karevik’s vocals come into play, but interestingly enough the band goes into some choir sections very quick, leaving his vocal appearances in this track to be less than the choir parts.

The band really kicks into high gear with riff-tastic songs like “Ashes to Ashes” and “Torn”, really showcasing their vocalist on them. It was quite interesting how the album slowly introduces Karevik’s into the band’s sound. One of our early favorites is the melancholic epic “Torn”. “Veritas” is quite an odd track featuring Elize Ryd (Amaranthe) on some female sections and a funky accordion that nicely enhances the band’s already multi-layered music.

Reaching a whole new level of awesomeness, the band uses excellent choir arrangements in the track “Silverhorn”. Featuring a children’s choir as well, this track is quite epic and one of the most interesting sounding tracks in this album. Our favorite track is the powerful “Falling Like The Fahrenheit”, a song that has a vibe that sounds like a more symphonic Evergrey. The only song we didn’t quite got into was the three-part track “Prodigal Son”. There are some clean vocals with not much else going on that sound a bit stale, and even though there are some killer guitar sections, this song felt a bit dull and quite pointless to be honest.

Closing in an elegant symphonic matter with “Continuum”, the band has managed to create another excellent release. ‘Surviving’ the exit of Roy, the band has pushed their sound to new limits and incorporates a lot more symphonic elements than before. If you are a big fan of Symphonic Power Metal with a melancholic edge, “Silverthorn” is the release for you. The orchestrations and choir arrangements alone make this release amazing, so now just imagine adding the excellence of Kamelot on top of this.

Release: October 29th, 2012

Genre: Symphonic Power/Progressive Metal

Country: USA