Label: Napalm Records
Release date: March 17, 2023
Production: Sascha Paeth
Album length: 52.55 min
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 8.5/10
Kamelot, the much-loved symphonic power metallers, came back in mid-March with their 12th studio album, “The Awakening”. We waited five years for it. The band wanted to put it out two years earlier, but held off until life on the planet (at least sort of) ‘normalized’. This is without doubt a seriously strong record. It delivers a convincing run of power metal marches, and a few of them can easily hold their own against the older material, the stuff that goes all the way back to “The Black Halo” (2005). At the same time, it has at least as much allure and inspiration as the first Kamelot album with Tommy Karevik on vocals, “Silverthorn” (2012).
The intro and the outro take up two slots. Pomp demands it from the band’s epic symphonic identity. That’s why there are ‘only’ eleven proper songs on “The Awakening”. The album soars high on the wings of The Great Divide, a classic Kamelot anthem. Here the band leans on a proven concept, namely their full-on, ignition-ready songwriting formula. This is where Kamelot are (and always have been) at their most convincing. The chorus is a hooky monster that slips under your skin in a heartbeat and lifts the mood of the album to its peak. Eventide keeps up that gripping format, with the sky-high backdrop of bombastic pomp that’s so typical of Kamelot. The mid-tempo One More Flag In The Ground also follows the electrified mood set in the opening stretch of the album, mainly thanks to a superb new chorus melody, one of the catchiest and most commanding on the whole record. The atmosphere in this song speaks in a mystical, dark tone, while pomp and theatrical drama are back in full force, and the track even (unintentionally) pulls toward something Evergrey might have written. The symphonic assault shifts back into a higher gear with the fourth song (fifth, counting the intro), Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem), which only confirms that this time Kamelot have delivered an album with a truly convincing compositional design. As for the brilliant production, which we always expect to be top-notch when it comes to Kamelot, there’s hardly any need to discuss it. This song, too, delivers a new chorus, cut to the formula Kamelot are prized and recognized for, and a track that will raise the hairs on the necks of older fans in particular. The exceptionally forceful, convincing first half of the new Kamelot album is only softened by the ballad Midsummer’s Eve. But right behind it come Nightsky and Bloodmoon, which lift the album back to the desired level of atmospheric grip, partly thanks to the songwriting experience of knowing how to pull out an infectious, instantly effective chorus melody. And if you’ve also got Karevik in the lineup, with his outstanding vocal charisma and theatrical fire, you get what is pretty much a dream combination.
A whole extra garrison of musicians joined the crew on “The Awakening”, each chipping in to meet the high standards dictated by Youngblood’s perfectionism. This is a well-oiled team. Skim through the names and you know who’s who in power metal. And even though the band’s boss Youngblood is from Florida, Kamelot sound incredibly European once again. The album is unmistakably ‘Kamelot-esque’, while also showing an inexhaustible drive to try the untried, as far as the recipe of the power metal genre template lets you. In the closing stretch the power metal march eases off a bit, thanks to the ballad Willow and the closer My Pantheon (Forevermore), which is the moment where the band allowed itself a few new moves compositionally. The added outro, Ephemera (Occlude), only intensifies that feeling (that the bombastic side is winding down towards the end).
The wait for “The Awakening” paid off. That’s not to say there’s nothing left in reserve, but for the most part it’s done at a high level. With distinction. In terms of sound and production, all the added finesse inside the polished arrangements, and then there’s the phenomenal Karevik, who is by no means Khan’s shadow but a vocalist with his own developed charisma and a delivery full of passion and emotion. This is an album that should more than satisfy the band’s longtime followers.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Overture (Intro)
2. The Great Divide
3. Eventide
4. One More Flag In The Ground
5. Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem)
6. Midsummer’s Eve
7. Bloodmoon
8. NightSky
9. The Looking Glass
10. New Babylon
11. Willow
12. My Pantheon (Forevermore)
13. Ephemera (Outro)
Lineup:
Tommy Karevik – vocals
Thomas Youngblood – guitar
Sean Tibbetts – bass
Alex Landenburg – drums
Oliver Palotai – keyboards, orchestrations, choir vocals on track 10
Guest musicians:
Florian Janoske – violin on track 6
Brian Howes – backing vocals on track 4
Kobra Paige – operatic vocals on track 4
Miro Rodenberg – additional keyboards on track 4
Svenja Kehder – choir vocals on track 10
Chris Fenske – choir vocals on track 10
Tina Guo – cello on tracks 5 and 6
Simone Simons – vocals on track 10
Melissa Bonny – vocals on track 10
Oliver Hartmann – backing vocals
Herbie Langhans – backing vocals
Ina Morgan Vocals – backing vocals
Sascha Paeth – additional guitars, backing vocals
