Kamelot, The shadow theory

Kamelot used to be one of my favourite bands and one of the few who succeeded replacing an iconic lead singer with what in my opinion is an even more talented and versatile artist, so I’m always keeping an eye on them and their releases, even though it’s been quite a while since I was fully pleased by one of their albums. I just can’t give them up, mostly because I’m totally in love with Tommy Karevik and his voice.

Now if only Tommy would stop trying to be Roy. He’s so freaking talented and I love him so much in everything Arjen-related, I find it quite sad that someone who barely knew him in The theory of everything was able to make him sound ten times better than his own band after three albums together. It’s over, Roy has been gone for ages, everyone is used to Tommy by now, I swear it won’t hurt to let him have a personality in Kamelot. We already know he has one outside of it and we actually like it. And it doesn’t help that the tracks aren’t the highlight of individuality and creativity either.

The mission sounds pretty intriguing, a mix of a symphonic and electronic soundtracky intro that creates a good setup and high expectations for the album.

Sadly, Phantom divine, quickly breaks those expectation, as a rather typical post-Roy Kamelot track with progressive darker verses, followed by a sappy out of place chorus. The verses are so promising and then they go full cheese during the chorus; for the love of everything that is beautiful, they even have a modulation! The grunts seem added just for colour/ show, without any real insertion into the song, and so does the guitar solo. It kind of sounds like the Epica syndrome, definitely not a fan of this.

I tend to favour their darker more progressive sound (I actually want another Poetry for the poisoned), so Ravenlight is an ok song for the most part, but again the chorus turns very light all of a sudden and I can’t stand it when a band does that. It just doesn’t fit, I have no idea why so many try it. The rest is actually quite good, especially the ending, but since they keep reverting to that out of place chorus, I can’t fully enjoy the song.

Amnesiac has a really catchy beginning, but I just know it’s going to down die down. And of course it does, because what else would happen on a Kamelot track? It also has really catchy verses, with a heavier guitar in the background, but I just know it’s going to turn into a mega-corny chorus. And of course it does, because what else would happen on a Kamelot track? These recipes are starting to get very frustrating and boring, especially when they just drag the track down instead of helping. If you use a recipe in every single freaking song, it should at least be a good one. Like every other track so far, Amnesiac has a few moments where it could turn into a good song, but I just can’t focus long enough to write about the things I appreciate because they are immediately drowned down by the silly chorus and I only feel irritation and disappointment.

Burns to embrace is one of the few solid tracks. It’s melodic, it has a good instrumental, a memorable chorus, and most importantly it has soul and conviction. I can’t say I’m a fan of the children choir, it feels a bit over the top, but overall it’s a worthy piece and this doesn’t take away from it. It definitely helps that the chorus is one of the better ones of the album, so repeating it doesn’t bother me as much as it does with the previous ones. Unsurprisingly, this is the result when you don’t follow the blueprint, good things can happen!

Although it’s nothing special, I’m fond of In twilight hours, it’s sweet. They have a knack for ballads and then there’s Tommy’s deep warm voice. I like this guy so much it frustrates me to hear him so underused. I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I keep coming back to Kamelot against all reasonable hope of improvement, because I keep expecting to hear him shine like I know he can.

I will move past the cheesiness of the Kevlar skin title and corresponding lyrics and acknowledge it’s one of the better songs of the record. Despite of the constant reminder that he’s “waiting for her to uncover his Kevlar skin” (which must be the mushiest thing ever), the chorus is actually quite ok. Very catchy and for once tied together nicely with the rest of the song. The heavier bridge is also a nice addition, the progressive synth solo reminds me that they are capable of writing good pieces and yes, there’s Tommy sounding like something other than Roy, which is always bound to make me happy. Thumbs up!

I love the violins in the background of Static, but for all the prettiness of the instrumental, it’s another underwhelming track. It’s not bad, I guess, but I feel like I’ve heard it so many times I just can’t be excited about it anymore. It doesn’t have that turn from dark verse to heavy chorus that I hate with a passion and it’s a nice melodic song, so I suppose it’s somewhat of an improvement compared to the first half, but it passes by my ear without evoking anything.

Mindfall remedy’s lyrics sound like something Epica would write.  Given the amount of hate mail I received for my last Epica review, I will remain at that. The music is just like most of the other tracks: a good instrumental in the background, an awesome Tommy, rather catchy, but not very engaging and definitely not something I would remember the next day.

Yawn… If their previous ballad was nothing special, but sweet, Stories unheard is nothing special period. I struggle to say something about it, it’s so bland that there’s hardly any way to describe it. Even Tommy sounds bored.

At least the previous tracks had a better instrumental doing damage control for the incredibly generic vocal line, but Vespertine has the most repetitive tractored riff since Nightwish and the most clicheic guitar solo since…. that band I don’t remember because it had clicheic guitar solos. Come on, Kamelot, what is this? I’m crying on the inside. Or at least I would, if the “come day, come night/ my crimson bride is dancing/ on fields of gold” lyrics wouldn’t make me laugh on the outside.

The proud and the broken makes me wonder where has this Tommy been the whole album. And more importantly, where has this Kamelot been the whole album? A very progressive track, with an infectious rhythm, a rather epic bridge followed by the sudden quiet gentle piano together with Tommy’s beautiful moving vocals and ending in grandeur, with powerful gut-wrenching vocals and a synth solo. The only thing ruining it is, of course, the repetitive light chorus that is from a whole other story completely. Still, what a different record it would be if they put more effort into tracks like this and less into insipid melodies that can’t be told apart!

This is quite the disappointment, they keep playing it extremely safe with everything and for the life of me, I can’t understand why. They’re not exceptional songwriters, but they do know how to compose good songs. They have a loyal fanbase that put up with quite a number of changes and still had positive things to say about every one of them (for the most part). They have a versatile and extremely talented singer. On paper, they have everything they need and nothing to stop them from doing well, but for some reason they keep staying confined within those borders of formulaic tracks instead of exploring that potential that I know is there. Every time a new album comes out I’m so excited about it and I have this hope that it will be awesome and I will love it and it just doesn’t happen for a while now. I’m starting to wonder why this hope keeps existing and if it’s not turning into an absurd desire by now. I think it’s even worse than Haven, at least Haven had Revolution, Liar liar and Citizen Kane which I would actually want to listen again. Outside of Burns to embrace and Kevlar skin (and I’m kind of stretching it even here), I don’t care for anything on this album and I’m actually sad about this.