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KAMELOT
Haven
2015 Napalm Records

KAMELOT is a power metal band based in Tampa, Florida and Haven is their 11th studio album. It is their first album for Austrian independent label Napalm Records, and the second to feature lead vocalist Tommy Karevik (SEVENTH WONDER), who replaced Roy Khan when he departed in 2011.

Haven finds KAMELOT in the midst of a prolific string of albums; they have released four studio albums in less than eight years, which is a pretty fast pace these days. In addition to their steady output, they are also a persistent touring band, having toured extensively for each album. (The tour for Haven is already in motion and will run through the end of 2015). I have been enjoying their recent work, including the last album Silverthorn, which demonstrated how well the band could do after the absence of former singer Roy Khan. Thankfully, his departure did not slow down KAMELOT at all. Even more than before, on Haven Tommy captures the breathy, emotional vocal stylings that Roy Khan was so good at performing and makes them his own.

Haven is sort of a concept album, in that it explores a dark world going insane. (I guess it could make for a great concept, except the real world is actually going insane). Guitarist and main songwriter Thomas Youngblood described the idea of the album as “a grey cloud that is forming over our world. We are here to find that silver lining with an album that is both dark and melancholy, yet uplifting and giving the listener a haven in a world gone mad.”

The album opens with a mellow moment in the track “Fallen Star”, but eventually builds momentum and breaks into a trademark KAMELOT song. This leads to three of the strongest tracks on the album: “Insomnia”, which is instantly a classic in the KAMELOT style, “Citizen Zero”, which has a sinister stomp, and the speedy “Veil Of Elysium”, which sounds like it could have come from the Ghost Opera sessions. The ballad “Under Gray Skies” follows and features pipes played by NIGHTWISH’s Troy Donockly and vocals from DELAIN’s Charlotte Wessels. The emotional “Beautiful Apocalypse” follows, featuring more female backing vocals. ARCH ENEMY lead vocalist Alissa White-Gluz contributes some backing clean and death vocals to the heaviest song on the album, “Revolution” as well as “Liar Liar”, which features a great guitar solo from Youngblood and a great keyboard solo from Oliver Palotai. Drummer Casey Grillo provides his usual punishing performance to Haven; bassist Sean Tibbetts contributes precision playing on his third album with KAMELOT.

Longtime fans of KAMELOT will find a lot to be happy with on Haven; the band has once again delivered. The album contains 13 tracks, clocking in at 53 minutes. The band again teamed with Sascha Paeth and Miro for the production. This is one reason the KAMELOT sound is so consistent. KAMELOT’s album design and artwork is persistently among the best in metal, and Haven makes no exception. KAMELOT’s albums are released with various special editions, and this makes them worth buying in physical form.

4.0 Out Of 5.0

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