Location: Trieste / Teatro Miela (Dom pristaniških delavcev) / Italy
Date: Thursday, 11/21/2013
Kamelot! The symphonic power metallers, active since 1991 and hailing from Tampa, Florida, released their new studio album “Silverthorn” last year! Their tenth. And now it’s time to promote it in Europe too. Kamelot have always been seen as an international outfit, despite the fact that their boss is the American Thomas Yougblood. Keyboardist Oliver Palotai lives in Stuttgart, and the newcomer Tommy Karevik, who replaced longtime vocalist Roy Khan, is from Sweden. The power metal groove loaded with symphonic elements of epic, bombastic proportions has given us some excellent albums over the years, and even more songs where metal punch and hypnotically catchy melodies work together, closer to European ears than American ones. That’s why Kamelot have a solid base of supporters and fans in Europe.
In 2013, metal is shinier than ever in even more subgenre forms. Year after year, the bar for topping sonic extremes and “self-brutalization” gets set higher and higher. So power metal today is basically “love at first sight” above all for those just discovering the realm of metal music. That means mostly young people, around 20 on average. Of course, there are still a few tireless die-hards among us who are hooked on pomp and melodic catchiness gathered around a central vocal figure who absolutely has to sing and not growl!
Kamelot took two support acts along on this tour: Norway’s Tellus Requiem and the Dutch band ReVamp. Tellus Requeim cancelled the Trieste show, so the job of warming up the crowd before Kamelot fell solely to ReVamp. They’re something of a continuation of the musical legacy of After Forever. The lineup is home to one of the most imposing female vocalists around when the talk turns to symphonic power metal bands. Floor Jansen.
The band took the stage of the packed Teatro Miela hall at around nine o’clock and presented their second studio album, “Wild Card”, released at the end of August this year on Nuclear Blast Records. It was amazing to realize that a good chunk of the crowd packed into the front rows had the lyrics down cold and followed Floor every step of the way. The singer herself didn’t hide her delight at the positive reactions from the audience, and a few times she simply handed the mic over to the crowd! Three quarters of an hour of a routine performance, in which the experience and the confident power of the solid, dynamic figure of Floor Jansen were clearly evident, and she of course drew the lion’s share of the attention.
The sound for the support act was damn good! Behind the mixing desk, the “most illustrious” Achim Koehler kept watch over the sound. He’s one of the best sound engineers in Europe right now when it comes to producing heavy metal. A solid, crushing riff wall from both guitars, keyboards a bit less audible, a reliable and tight rhythm section. And of course, first and foremost, as already mentioned, polished playing and the confident vocal presence of the exceptional Floor Jansen.
But of course, everyone came for Kamelot. The show had been sold out for about three weeks. They even opened the upper balcony. What’s more, they removed the seats on the floor to gain precious standing room. The atmosphere was incredible. It’s not the first time I’ve been to a gig at Teatro Miela, but I can say almost for sure that this hall has never seen a metal celebration like this. And the huge turnout throws the door wide open for organizing more metal spectacles like this in the future, which means plenty of Slovenian metal fans will get their fill down the line too.
Kamelot hit the crowd with the sharpened march of the new album “Silverthorn” called Thorn. Hands in the air! Italian temperament flooded the venue, and from the first moment to the last the crowd fanatically carried their heroes on its wings. The passion of the Italian audience is unbelievable, and so is their devotion in this case. They even came up with a chant of their own, a recognizable football stadium tune, adapted of course to sing the praises of the “magnificent” Kamelot arriving in Trieste! Karevik proved himself as the new head of the “Kamelot theater,” a confident replacement for the missed Roy Khan, who decided to leave the band permanently in 2012 due to exhaustion. Ghost Opera poured oil on the fire soon after the start, and the blistering opening was interrupted for a few moments by band boss Thomas Youngblod, who greeted the crowd on the occasion. In the song The Great Pandemonium, backing vocalist Alissa White-Gluz sneaks into a duet with Tommy Karevik, which is of course the loveliest part of the whole view of the stage! The band kept the atmosphere at a peak by leaning heavily on their classic repertoire, which by now has of course become second nature to the fans. The interaction between the crowd and the band was an incredible experience. Singing the verses, knowing every single song. And the waves of excitement over the announcement of the ballad Don’t You Cry just wouldn’t die down. The crowd was eating out of Karevik’s hand. In the middle the band took a short breather and retreated backstage, and in those moments Casey Drillo contributed a short solo spot on drums, wildly.
Show theater beyond all limits! Direction. Everything is calculated to the inch. All the pomp, every second of the performance. It’s all one big theater. And when you realize that alongside all this professionally tuned “aesthetics” there’s also a hefty dose of backing tracks, that “plastic” can really sour your healthy taste. Yes. Bass guitar and guitar. It was already strange that the support band’s guitars sounded more dynamic and alive than Thomas Youngblood’s guitar later on. The keyboards were firmly pushed into the background in the first third of the show. You couldn’t hear a thing of what Oliver Palotai was doing “somewhere back there”. Later they fixed that. But the overall sound throughout the band’s set wasn’t optimal. The riffs sounded muffled, smeared. I’d say it didn’t “breathe” the way it should. That’s no surprise at all if you’re hiding behind a backing track.
If the use of backing tracks hadn’t spoiled the impression, you’d say this was an unforgettable heavy metal party, where all those sworn to the solid sounds of metal distortion wouldn’t ask for anything more to feed their souls. But a slightly bitter aftertaste remained. Despite the fact that Karevik confidently filled Khan’s shoes and that “Silverthorn” is an excellent studio achievement, worthy of carrying on the artistic tradition of all of Kamelot’s past works, marked by Khan’s excellent vocals. On top of that, the magical Floor jumps in for a duet with Tommy once more on The Haunting, and the band takes the show to its peak with two much-demanded Kamelot classics, Karma and, as expected, the closer March Of Mephisto (with Alissa and Tommy in a duet). The crowd was visibly satisfied. And the excitement didn’t let up. Not for a long time after the show. At the end of the day, despite the needlessly consumed dose of “plastic”, what matters is that most people went home with satisfied faces, full of cheer and joy in their hearts, right?
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
KAMELOT:
1. Torn
2. Ghost Opera
3. The Great Pandemonium
4. The Human Stain
5. Soul Society
6. Song for Jolee
7. Veritas
8. Center of the Universe
9. Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)
10. When the Lights are Down
11. Rule the World
12. My Confession
13. Keyboard and Drum Performance
14. Forever
—encore—
15. Bass Solo
16. The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)
17. Karma
18. March of Mephisto
Continuum (taped outro)
REVAMP:
1. The Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: On the Sideline
2. The Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: The Limbic System
3. Head Up High
4. Wild Card
5. Sweet Curse
6. In Sickness ‘Till Death Do Us Part: Disdain
7. The Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: Neurasthenia
8. In Sickness ‘Till Death Do Us Part: Disgraced
9. Wolf and Dog
