Song Of the Day - LX - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

Poetry For the Poisoned was released in 2010 and, excluding a re-unification scenery, is the last of Kamelot with the voice of Roy Khan.
A bit more heavy than the previous one, but with an annoying electronic touch in a few songs intro.
It's still a very good album, but didn't recover the band to the success of Epica or The Black Halo.

Kamelot - Once Upon A Time

Song Of the Day - LIX - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

In 2007, Kamelot released Ghost Opera, which would be a tremendous album for most Symphonic Metal bands, but a bit disappointing for the band that released Epica and The Black Halo.
Since the beginning of the band, Kamelot had been following the trail between Power Metal and Symphonic Metal, specially since Roy Khan joined the band. Siége Perilous was much more a Power Metal album, Karma started flowing a bit more into Symphonic Metal, but still with more Power, and Epica and The Black Halo were just the perfect mix between the two genres. In Ghost Opera, Kamelot kept flowing more into Symphonic Metal, and I believe that there is a lack of Power Metal riffs in the album overall.
Nevertheless, the album still has one or other song that would fit right in if mixed with the previous albums, like the title song of the album.

Kamelot - Ghost Opera

Song Of the Day - LVIII - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

The Black Halo, released in 2005, continues the concept of Epica around Goethe's Faust and also the success of the previous release. For me Epica is better only because it came first.
Another top notch album from Kamelot with the tremendous voice of Roy Khan.

Kamelot - Soul Society

Song Of the Day - LVII - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

For me, the best Kamelot album, Epica, released in 2003, is a concept album loosely based on the story from Goethe's Faust.
The same musical talent of previous albums, with extra orchestration, fabulous lyrics, and Khan's voice at his best.

Kamelot - A Feast For The Vain


PS: Just out of curiosity, the band Epica was named after this album, before it was released they were called Sahara Dust.

Song Of the Day - LVI - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

Karma, in 2001, was another step forward for Kamelot.
Even a better mix between the fast and catchy songs and the ballads with a gothic touch.

Kamelot - Forever

Song Of the Day - LV - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

In the 1999 album, The Fourth Legacy, the second of Kamelot with Khan it's obvious that the band evolved and that the songs were written with his voice in mind.
The songs are fast and catchy but also unique, easily identifiable in the first seconds, and Khan's voice is in great shape.
This album was my first contact with Kamelot, and also the first of the series of superb albums they have released.

Kamelot - Until Kingdom Come

Song Of the Day - LIV - 7 Albums by Kamelot + Roy Khan

I was searching for a theme for this weeks Song Of the Day, when I was struck by the news of Roy Khan leaving Kamelot. Two weeks ago I just included Roy in my favourite clean vocals singers list, and Kamelot is one of my favourite bands, so it was really a shocking news for me.
So I was in a nostalgic mood, remembering the albums they made together, when I noticed that they were 7, the magic number!
So I decided for the first time to dedicate an entire week of Songs Of the Day to a single band, Kamelot, one song from each album they have done with Roy Khan doing the singing.

Here's the first one, Millennium from Siége Perilous.

Kamelot - Millenium

Roy Khan leaves Kamelot

I'm in shock... this is terrible news!
It's the end of a perfect match.
Just hope that Kamelot can find a decent replacement. As for Roy, from his statement I think he will leave the Metal music scene, at least for now.

Here is the transcript of Roy's statement :
"Dear fans & friends,

There have been a lot of speculations around why I am not touring with Kamelot and I want to make a statement although it may not prevent further guessing as to what's actually going on. It is a fact however that I told the guys in the band already last fall (well after my burnout) that I was leaving the band. Naturally enough they were shocked (as was the label and everyone else working with Kamelot). In addition to risk of dropping ticket sales they wanted to give me time to think things over, and so I did. My decision still stands; It is finished.

I am currently spending time with my family in Norway taking it easy and wondering profoundly what the future is going to bring. Communication with the outer world has been so and so, but I have had several talks with Thomas along the way although I am still called in sick. I am terribly sorry that my decision is affecting so many others and I want you to know I wish the band & associates all the best for the future and that I enjoyed every second in the spotlight. How could I not...they were nourished by the best fans in the world! I am eternally thankful for everything you and Kamelot have given me and equally sorry that it has to end here. The good news is; God was there after all...

Love you to death!

All the best & so long,
Roy Khan"

And here is the statement from the band :
"With a heavy heart we can now announce that Roy Khan has chosen to leave the band. We wanted to give him ample time for this kind of decision, due to his recent burnout and also the amount of amazing times we have shared with him in Kamelot. We respectfully accept his resignation from the band and wish him the best in his future endeavours. The timing is actually good since we feel the uncertainty the fans have had can now be laid to rest and the band can move on to finding a new singer.

"The tour is going great so far and the fans have been amazing throughout this entire process" - adds keyboardist Oliver Palotai. With the new tour already in progress, Kamelot has already begun the search for a new vocalist. "I have a few guys in mind", said band founder Thomas Youngblood. "And as you can imagine, it is a very important decision. There are some amazing singers that have already contacted us on this but we will take our time to find the right person". Due to the overwhelming success of the recent shows in South America, we are pleased to announce new shows in November/December for Europe (stay tuned).

* The band headlines the Print de Temps Festival tonight and will play an Amsterdam (nearing sold-out) concert tomorrow followed by a full headliner tour with special guests Evergrey, Amaranthe and Sons of Seasons. (* Guest vocalists Fabio Lione and Tommy Karevik). Thank you for your support and see you on tour!

Thomas, Casey, Oliver and Sean"

Song Of the Day - LIII - 7 Great Albums of 2011

We finish this second edition of the 7 Great Albums of 2011 with another Melodic Death Metal act from the lands of the thousand lakes. Deathstar Rising is the 6th full length from Before the Dawn, and one of my favourites from this year.

Before the Dawn - Deathstar

Song Of the Day - LII - 7 Great Albums of 2011

The fifth full length album of German Atmospheric Melodic Death Metal band, Deadlock, called Bizarro World, is a great album of 2011.

Deadlock - You Left Me Dead

Song Of the Day - LI - 7 Great Albums of 2011

I already featured Turisas in two Songs Of the Day, but it's already time for a third one.
The first time was in the Pop Covers, then in the best Folk Metal bands, and now because they also released a Great Album this year.
The album is titled Stand Up and Fight, and I already used the title track as the Song Of the Day in the Top 7 Folk Metal bands, so today here's another song from the album (lots of great songs in this album to choose from).

Turisas - The March of the Varangian Guard

Song Of the Day - L - 7 Great Albums of 2011

Glorious Collision is the first release (eight in total) from Dark Progressive Power Metal band, Evergrey, after the 2010 line-up revolution with the replacement of guitars, bass and drums players. The quality of the songs hasn't changed, so this is a great album of 2011.

Evergrey - Wrong

Song Of the Day - XLIX - 7 Great Albums of 2011

Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa is the sixth full length of Finnish Viking Folk Metal band Moonsorrow. A great album of 2011.

Moonsorrow - Muinaiset (The Ancient Ones)

Song Of the Day - XLVIII - 7 Great Albums of 2011

In the day it was released I already publicized Ava Inferi's latest release, Onyx. I now step forward to talk about it again, to confirm that it is good, even better than I expected.

Ava Inferi- The Living End

Song Of the Day - XLVII - 7 Great Albums of 2011

There are so many great albums in 2011 and we are already in April, so I chose to do another edition of the 7 Great Albums of 2011.
And the week starts with a great Folk Metal band from Hungary that I already included in my Top 7 Folk Metal bands, Dalriada. They have released a new album this year, called Ígéret (Promise).

Dalriada - Hajdútánc

Song Of the Day - XLVI - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

To finish our Top 7, the most veteran singer of the list, but also the less famous one. Founder and front-man of Grave Digger for more than 30 years, Chris Boltendahl is one of the Top Male Singers with Clean Vocals.

Grave Digger - Valhalla

Song Of the Day - XLV - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

(a bit later than usual because I'm on holidays)

He is the singer of the kings of Progressive Metal for 20 years now, so I had to put it on this Top 7. If you don't listen to Metal and have been far from civilization in the past 20 years, maybe you don't know that I'm talking about James LaBrie from Dream Theater.

Dream Theater - Under A Glass Moon

Song Of the Day - XLIV - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

If we forget the dark year of Stratovarius, 2004, Timo Kotipelto is the vocal trademark of the band since 1995, which includes their golden years, their dark ages, and their rebirth. His singing style is not consensual, but for me it blends perfectly with Stratovarius music. He is one of the Top 7 Male Singers with Clean Vocals.

Stratovarius - Hunting High and Low

Song Of the Day - XLIII - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

Since 1995 the voice of Progressive Power Metal giants, Symphony X, besides other side projects, like giving voice to Arjen Anthony Lucassen solo project, Ayreon, or his duet band with Jon Lande, called Allen-Lande, Russell Allen is the owner of a powerful and very identifiable voice. He is one of the great male singers with clean vocals.

Symphony X - Evolution (The Grand Design)

Song Of the Day - XLII - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

One of the most charismatic Power Metal singers, front-man and founder of Sonata Arctica, 15 years ago, Tony Kakko is one of my Top 7 Male Singers with Clean Vocals.

Sonata Arctica - Flag In The Ground

Song Of the Day - XLI - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

One of the greatest singers out there today, since 1997 lead singing in Kamelot, Roy Khan is an awesome singer with a unique vocal tone.

Kamelot - When the Lights are Down

Song Of the Day - XL - Top 7 Male Singers w/ Clean Vocals

This week I will focus on the Male voices with clean vocals. And no one better to start this with than Blind Guardian's singer for the last 27 years, Hansi Kürsch.
He has a very distinctive voice, easily recognizable, even when singing with other bands (I remember listening to Flesh Of the Gods, in the album Deggial from Therion, and thinking, this sounds like Blind Guardian, and had to search the booklet to confirm that it really was Hansi Kürsch doing the lead vocals on that song).

Blind Guardian - A Voice In The Dark

Song Of the Day - XXXIX - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

We finish the week, and this series of 7 great albums of 2011 (others will follow), with another Folk Metal band, again from Finland. Ukon Wacka is the tenth album from Korpiklaani.

Korpiklaani - Louhen Yhdeksäs Poika

Song Of the Day - XXXVIII - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

Finnish Metal scene is on fire this year, with lots of superb releases.
Another one is the 5th album of Melodic Death Metal band Omnium Gatherum, titled New World Shadows. A great album of 2011.

Omnium Gatherum - New World Shadows

Song Of the Day - XXXVII - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

More than five years after Heralding - The Fireblade, Vratyas Vakyas, under the band name Falkenbach, returns with a new album, full of great Viking Folk Metal songs. Tiurida is a great album of 2011.

Falkenbach - Time Between Dog and Wolf

Song Of the Day - XXXVI - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

Kind of a softer version of In Extremo, the also German band Schandmaul play a Medieval Folk that is sometimes Metal, sometimes just Rock.
Traumtänzer is their 7th album, a great album of 2011.

Schandmaul - Geas Traum

Manowar - Campo Pequeno, Lisbon, Portugal, 2nd April 2011

Manowar are alive and kicking, as they proved last Saturday night in Lisbon (Portugal). Almost twelve years after their last concert in the country, no fan wanted to miss the bands return to Portuguese soil, not even some famous people, like Moonspell singer, Fernando Ribeiro, or prized writer José Luís Peixoto, which I spotted in the crowd.

In front of a packed Campo Pequeno, Manowar started with the full Battle Hymns album, almost in the same order than the record (they started with Manowar instead of Death Tone, and left Joey DeMaio's William's Tale for later), which is a good album but not the best and hasn't any song that everyone sings along, except maybe Battle Hymn, so the crowd was happy but not overly excited.

After a small break filled with Karl Logan's solo, the band attacked their greatest hits and the crowd answered going completely wild, singing every note with hands in the air. This was the best part of the concert with its highest moment being the ballad Heart Of Steel, a magical moment between the audience and the band.



After Fighting the World, the band hit a series of songs from the 2002 album, Warriors Of the World, and it was clear that much less people could sing along, being Thunder in the Sky, the title track from their 2009 EP, the concerts lowest moment, with almost no one being able to follow, because they didn't knew the song (I had never heard it before) and because the sound was too high.
The Power recovered the audience to the show, and justified the calls for the encore.

The encore started with a five minute speech of Joey DeMaio, all in Portuguese (I think he memorized it, because it didn't look like he was reading), hailing Portugal, the Portuguese and themselves. It was useful to remind me what I don't like about Manowar, which is their "we are better than the rest" attitude.

Kings Of Metal, Warriors Of the World and Black Wind, Fire and Steel provided a very nice encore, at the end of which the band left the stage.
The Crown and the Ring (Lament of Kings) was just played by the sound system when the crew was already starting to dismounts the settings.

The crowd was awesome in its support to the band, cheering and singing along the majority of the songs, and definitely had deserved to listen to Courage or Master Of the Wind (or both), maybe sacrificing one or two songs from Battle Hymns.

All in all, this was a great show, by a legendary band, full of vitality after thirty years on the business of making Metal. A splendid Saturday night with a few magical moments, which could only have been better if the sound was a bit lower (loud is good, too loud is annoying).

Setlist:
Manowar / Death Tone / Metal Daze / Fast Taker / Shell Shock / Dark Avenger / Battle Hymn / Sun of Death (Karl Logan solo) / Brothers of Metal Pt. 1 / Kill With Power / Hail and Kill / Heart of Steel / William's Tale (Joey DeMaio bass solo) / Sign of the Hammer / Fighting the World / Call to Arms / House of Death / Hand of Doom / Thunder in the Sky / The Power
Encore:
Kings of Metal / Warriors of the World United / Black Wind, Fire and Steel / The Crown and the Ring (Lament of the Kings)


[Edit] As I was finalizing this review, I just heard that Scott Columbus (Manowar's drummer for 21 years) passed away Monday evening. Sad, sad news. Valhalla has a new drummer...

Song Of the Day - XXXV - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

The 5th album of Norwegian Symphonic Gothic Metal band Sirenia, The Enigma Of Life, the second with the Spanish singer Ailyn doing the vocals of Morten Veland's masterful songs is another great album of 2011.

Sirenia - The End Of It All

Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

01. Why Not Me
02. Shot in the Dark
03. In the Middle of the Night
04. Faster
05. Fire and Ice
06. Iron
07. Where Is the Edge
08. Sinéad
09. Lost
10. Murder
11. A Demon's Fate
12. Stairway to the Skies

Four years after their last originals release, Dutch symphonic hard rockers Within Temptation are back with their new album “The Unforgiving”. Much has happened in these years: their long-serving drummer has left the band (not before helping them release two new live albums), they penned a couple of songs for a video game and Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt (vocals and guitar, respectively) still found time to get all broody by having not one, but two more children together.

With all this convolution I must admit I did not foresee anything good coming out of this new album, especially because their releases had been on a descent as of late: “The Heart of Everything” had a couple of really good songs but the general mid-pace feel of the album always caused me to phase out when listening to it. As for “The Black Symphony”, while I appreciated the full symphony live arrangements, I could never get over Sharon's voice being so broken and tired (apparently she was ill) as to enjoy it much.

This makes “The Unforgiving”, the band's first concept album, a surprising disc all the more. This may be a good or bad thing depending of where you're coming from and how much of a Within Temptation purist you are. What we have here is an extremely energetic album that differs quite a bit from their previous releases and begs for your attention. While it still sounds like the band, on a lot of songs I get vibes from Heart, To/Die/For or even (gasp) Roxette and ABBA. Songs are generally quite upbeat and radio-friendly, to the point of being danceable like “Shot in the Dark” and the (decidedly disco-laced) “Sinéad”. The choruses tend to be grandiose in sound and catchy in melody to the point of getting etched into your humming memory after a single listen.

This is not to say that this is a wimpy album: there is still plenty of guitar and even solos and the drumming makes this decidedly rock (check out track 6, “Iron”). Furthermore Sharon's voice is at her absolutely most powerful on this record! In previous albums she always seemed to deliver a slightly meek and frail voice, going into falsetto for the higher tones as heard on “Jillian (I'd Give My Heart)“ in “The Silent Force” album. I honestly did not think she could deliver a chorus like “Faster”, but she does it here with room to spare. Nice one.

But you do get a trade-off here, no two ways about it: those looking for that syncopated, more artsy, slow Gothic of earlier album will be disappointed. I, on the other hand, welcome the change and think this is an absolutely great album, chock-a-block full of great songs and quite possibly their best yet. Highly recommended.

[EDIT] It is worth mentioning that if you're a collector you may want to go for the special edition. The CD itself features the same songs as the standard issue but you get a DVD with 4 videoclips and a few short films (wooden acting alert!) that introduce some of the songs and help you better understand the concept behind the album. You also get a nice graphic novel based on the story but, since it's only issue #1, you sadly don't get to gleam much of what the hell is going on.

Song Of the Day - XXXIV - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

Another great album from 2011 is the self-titled third release of the Finnish Gothemburg Metal band MyGrain.

MyGrain - Trapped In An Hourglass

Song Of the Day - XXXIII - 7 Great Albuns of 2011

2011 is being such a great year in Metal releases, and I have so little time to do proper reviews, that I decided to save a few weeks of the Song Of the Day to show the new releases of the year (reviewed or not).

The first one is an album that I reviewed, so no need to give details, just read the review here.
I chose the title song from the album, eighteen minutes of pure Stratovarius.

Stratovarius - Elysium

Song Of the Day - XXXII - Top 7 Female Metal Singers

After twelve years showing her versatile voice as a lead singer in the Dutch Symphonic Gothic/Progressive Metal band After Forever, disbanded in 2009, she has founded and is currently the singer of the Symphonic Gothic Metal band ReVamp. Floor Jansen is one of the great female voices of Metal.

ReVamp - Fast Forward

Song Of the Day - XXXI - Top 7 Female Metal Singers

Some might say she is not a real Metal singer, because her career has evolved many times away from it, but maybe because I feel sympathy for her courage to jump to the stage and fill such hard shoes to wear (or maybe I just like to keep being bashed by Tarja fans), I just have to include Nightwish current singer, Anette Olzon on this Female Metal singers list.
She has a different singing style, and obviously Nightwish old songs don't sound quite the same, but I think that trying to get a Tarja copycat would have been worse for the band, and Annette is a good and experienced singer, and most of all is 100% committed to the band. She is one of the great female voices of Metal.

Nightwish - The Poet and the Pendulum