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Kamelot - The Black Halo
Jul. 28th, 2005 02:01 pm |
For stealing its image, Amazon taunts me with a better deal. |
Kamelot is a band that has become more and more pretentious throughout their lifetime. (I'm never sure which pronoun to use when referring to a "band" - singular or plural?) They started off surprisingly badly in the nineties with two albums of history and fantasy based songs, delivered by the inimitable Mark Vanderbilt who sings as if he's had a bass drum dropped on his foot. Fortunately, salvation was at hand in the form of replacement vocalist Roy Khan, who joined them for their third album and proved invaluable to their songwriting as well as general sound. As far as instrument choices go, they use the traditional selection of guitars and drums, with the minor addition of a piano and the entire Rodenburg Symphony Orchestra.
Recently they seem to have have developed a liking for Goethe's Faust, and began loosely transforming its storyline in to an epic metal opera in the previous album, Epica. This album continues that story, though the obvious presence of the actual plot elements seem to have been diminished this time.
My first impression of the album was in the form of the March of Mephisto video, in which you'd be forgiven for thinking that Kamelot had suddenly transformed in to Metallica. The same goes for their new-look website - it seems to be a new, scarier version of Kamelot that wasn't there before. Their sound is still recognisable even if the general mood is a little heavier, though, and after a couple of listens you understand more what they were trying to do with their music.
Er... 0. Introduction: There is a short introductory period not mentioned in the booklet that's a scene of a couple arriving in a music hall to see Kamelot, acted as if they were an opera performance - "You've just made it for the second act" is said, referring to this CD as the sequel to their last release and sounding decidedly like a series introduction from Knightmare. The pretentiousness begins even before the first song!
1. March of Mephisto: Wonderfully reminiscent of Hell March from Command and Conquer, this opens the album unusually slowly. The marching sound effects and guitar rhythm suddenly give way to a much softer verse, though, and the song continues to alternate between these two styles throughout. It seems a little awkward for the first few listens, although the "march" sections are very enjoyable. I find Mephisto's growls (actually Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir) a little distracting and preferred the old Mephisto voice from Epica, but it's something new at least.
This also sees the appearance of Jens Johansson (see Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, every other band in Europe) in the form of a keyboard solo in the middle. Again, it's very different from the rest of the song, and came as a surprise because in the video version it's nowhere to be heard.
2. When The Lights Are Down: This is a much more old-style power metal song than most of the album, with its fast drumbeat. However, I don't find it particularly catchy - one of the more forgettable songs on the album, if you ask me.
3. The Haunting (Somewhere in Time): More of what many would consider typical power metal, but this time much better. In compound time for a change of pace, it incorporates both male and female voices in some fantastic melody/harmony sections. For some reason, an air raid siren fades in at the end of the song and leads in to the next one.
4. Soul Society: Now, this is just amazing. Reminiscent of Center of the Universe from the last album, this has to be my favourite out of this one. I listened to it about eight times in a row on the plane over. True, the solo is a strange change of pace, but it works, as do the violin and brass parts during the chorus.
5. Interlude I: Dei Gratia: Starting with the previous album, Kamelot seem to have developed a trend of putting "Interludes" between some songs to advance the storyline of the album. In this one, they seem almost to split it up in to something reminiscent of a three-act play. Actually, that's far too pretentious. This is basically Kamelot saying "Look at us! We can sing in Latin!"
6. Abandoned: The second "act", then, of the CD has a much sadder mood than the first. It begins with this, a mostly acoustic and piano ballad that sounds slightly like their previous songs Wander and Don't You Cry. What's most remarkable, though, is the sudden reappearance of Helena's Theme from the last album - that's some clever working in of the storyline there. The time signature is rather unusual, starting in 7/4 but reverting to something more traditional during the main portion of the song.
7. This Pain: Unfortunately this song includes one thing that I dislike about Kamelot - the fact that they sometimes used distorted or muffled vocals. I'm not sure what the effect is meant to be, but it just makes me think that there's something wrong with my speakers. Apart from the hole in them. This is pretty straightforward, with a regular beat and pretty simple chords during the chorus. The addition of an organ in the background is new, though.
8. Moonlight: You'd expect this to be another gentle song, and it is at the beginning, with a piano buildup incorporating a Japanese instrument that I can't remember the name of (I think it might conceivably be a "tsugaru"). It then starts to become much heavier and march-like, with a gentler verse. The mixture of major and minor in the chorus takes a while to get used to, but it does work in the end. The time signature is complex as well, changing constantly throughout the song. The Center of the Universe theme plays again during the instrumental.
9: Interlude II: Un Assassino Molto Silenzioso: "And we can sing in Italian as well!" This has a piano and an accordion in it, reminding me unfortunately of the title music from Allo Allo.
10: The Black Halo: For a title track this seems very understated, being just over three minutes long. It starts off simple, with a guitar part that reminds me almost of something from Doom, but choirs and the orchestra parts are soon added along with a traditional Kamelot 5/4 time signature, and there's a drastic time change for the chorus. It's odd, as if there are two conflicting moods in the song - the idea and the setup of it is very grand and pretentious, but the actual sound of it isn't. The solo is pretty good, though.
11: Nothing Ever Dies: I find this very similar to the Black Halo, particularly the introduction - it could almost be a continuation of it. The slight pause after the introduction, with the cello playing the theme as a musical parenthesis, makes me smile every time. More distorted vocals are used during some of the verses, but the tune of it is memorable. The lyrics refer to the story of the previous album.
12: Memento Mori: While not the longest song that Kamelot have written, this is the longest single track - the only longer one was Elizabeth from Karma, which was twelve minutes over three separate tracks. It's the album's centrepiece, starting off with a wintry piano solo, and goes through a number of different styles, beginning and ending almost ballad-like but with a much more powerful verse and chorus in the mid-section. A favourite part of mine is the clarinet section, a reprise of the theme from the beginning.
13: Interlude III - Midnight/Twelve Tolls for a New Day: The beginning of this track is the ending of the previous one, but backwards. The section "rewinds" through a selection of Kamelot's themes from various albums (it's difficult to tell, even after turning the recording around again), explodes, and gives way to a New Year celebration scene. The sound of footsteps approaches, and their maker breathlessly wishes the listener a "Happy New Year". It's all a bit weird.
14: Serenade: Quite contrary to what the title implies, the pace picks up again here, with a song that combines many of the styles that Kamelot have used before on the album. It rounds off the album - and this time, it seems, the entire story - in a similar way to Three Ways To Epica on the previous album. I never did work out what that title meant. This song bounces merrily along for a while then suddenly stops, because Kamelot like their albums with unconventional endings.
Unlike a lot of Kamelot's material, the CD may well take a while to get in to. But if not one of the most accessible things released this year, it surely must be the cleverest.
