My Kamelot Journey

[Random Axe]

If anyone wants to just skim the first couple of sentences, I'll summarize at the beginning...I absolutely love this band again.

My introduction to them was Fourth Legacy. I had just discovered Conception through an old B&W fanzine called the Progress Report(Damn I wish I still had those). After reading about them I was able to procure a copy of Flow. That was life-altering at the time cause it was so refreshing to hear a band that jus spoke to me. The vocals were insanely good to me. At the time I compared them to Geoff Tate mixed with Dennis DeYoung. Probably very inaccurate. So I then was able to go back and get IN Your Multitude and was further blown away.

Then, I read that Conception had broken up and that Roy was going to singing for a band called Kamelot and the second album was coming soon. Of course I had to grab that and thought it was a stunning achievement of what can be done when you raise the bar on Euro-styled Power metal. Then came Karma, an album that was good but not quite where T4L was in my mind. In addition to this forum, I sought out a Kamelot groups and participated for a while interacting with management. Epica was released and I wasn't too happy with it. I thought they went a little overboard on the cheese factor(whatever that was in my mind). I'd posted that on another board and got called out on it through the Kam group. I wasn't banned but I left cause I knew I'd written some dumbass shit.

Fast forward to Black Halo and I dig this big time and could tell a subtle slide into a different style. That continued into Ghost Opera, an album I didn't appreciate till recently. Then Poetry was released and I was less than thrilled with that output.

Then Roy leaves the band.

I was happy for Tommy when he was brought on but was taken by surprise at how they tried to mold him into Khan, visually and vocally. They even dressed him like Roy. I felt at the time he wasn't allowed to show what makes him special and it was just paint by numbers. OF course Haven comes out and while Tommy was able to put more spin on the songs it was still formulaic. Shadow Theory was more of the same, wash rinse repeat.

Then all of that changed for me when I watched I Am the Empire. This may be the greatest live show on video I've ever seen. I was completely engrossed in its entirety and absolutely floored how the live show changed my perception of the songs. So now I've gone back and re-listened to all of the Tommy era stuff and I'm such a Gdamn fanboy once again.

Its crazy how we change over the years yet still return to our fundamental core musical values.

[Sir Exar Kun]

That speaks to the power of live music, even if on video. Definitely had my share of cases where a studio album left me a bit flat, until I heard material performed live, and I'd go back and find the studio album all over again....

Kamelot is a band that will safely always be a blind buy for me, even though I expect nothing new or innovative at this point. Each album will have a couple of really strong songs, and some filler, but it's easy ear candy nonetheless.

[LarryD]

Yes to all of that ..... but a BIG yes to the I am the Empire show. It sort of does away with that " Tommy is Khan" thing and becomes "Tommy is Tommy" ........ I can't call it the greatest show ever (The Khan show in Oslo is better for me) but regardless - if I never buy another Kamelot disc again, this show will allow me to go out with a bang......

To me - it feels like the last of the Kamelot shows but not announced as such.

[Random Axe]

I don't know how they'd improve on that show. I agree One Winter's Night is likely overall better but we're talking 1A vs 1B. The absolute pinnacle of melodic power metal shows. That probably cost a small fortune to pull that off, so the coffers would need to be filled quite a bit more before they could do that again. Maybe a couple of years down the line they get Roy to guest on a couple of songs.

And that brings me to another thought. I got so damn annoyed with all of these songs featuring a guest. Seeing them live it works great but damn guys, just write play and sing your own shit.

The debate used to be who's better? SymX or Kamelot? I think the answer should be obvious and I'll step out there and say that, purely from songwriting, Thomas is better than Michael.

I've got all Khan and Tom era albums ripped to my car and are on constant rotation now.

[Mardoch]

The debate used to be who's better? SymX or Kamelot? I think the answer should be obvious and I'll step out there and say that, purely from songwriting, Thomas is better than Michael.

That feels very apples and oranges to me. I honestly can't wrap my head around why folks would feel the need to compare these two groups straight across.

As for Kamelot in general, I was kind of losing my taste for this brand of power metal when Roy left, so it's no fault of Tommy's (or anyone else for that matter) that I don't listen to his Kamelot material. I was actually wearing my Silverthorn shirt yesterday amusingly enough, which I picked up the last time I saw them live.

[Mark]

I have "Eternity" on CD and I still spin it every now and then - maybe once every other year. It's overly long for a one-sitting listen, but it's not without its youthful charm. Plus they got in early on having a Wheel of Time themed song.

[Random Axe]

The debate used to be who's better? SymX or Kamelot? I think the answer should be obvious and I'll step out there and say that, purely from songwriting, Thomas is better than Michael.

That feels very apples and oranges to me. I honestly can't wrap my head around why folks would feel the need to compare these two groups straight across.

To be fair, both bands

Are based in the US
Use tons of fantasy references(knights, kings, dragons)
Same era roughly 1998 through present
Have powerhouse vocalists that only need one name(Khan, Russ,Tommy)
Play a style of metal highly Euro inspired
Have shared a progpower stage
Mostly same demographic(Kamelot attracts additional with goth girls)

Even if overall styles are different, they have more in common than not. They'll always be connected the same way Priest and Maiden are compared. That's not a bad thing or insult. We want to raise fists and bang heads. They provide two distinct ways to get there.

Two American proggy, symphonic, melodic fantasy metal bands with the same fundamental fan base will always draw comparisons.

I've personally never given much thought about one vs the other but can clearly see how someone could. For me, the class separation is in video. SymX royally effed up by not putting out a proper show.

[introclaus]

Its crazy how we change over the years yet still return to our fundamental core musical values.

LOL, very true.

For me, Kamelot is one of those bands I can always listen to - there's never really a bad time for Kamelot - especially because their career is in retrospective way more diverse than people give them credit for.

• If I want to hear the gothic side of them, I'll put on stuff like "Black Halo" or "Ghost Opera"

• If I want to go to their symphonic side, I'll put on one of the Tommy albums

• If its darkness I need, then absolutely it's "Poetry..."

• and if I'm in the mood for "classic power prog" it's the first two albums.

Strangely enough I never enjoyed the first two Khan albums nearly as much as everyone else seem to (I guess I was disappointed in him leaving Conception, and Mark leaving Kamelot), and for whatever reason "Epica" just sounds trite to me. But everything else, I'm very much on board with.

[Random Axe]

I'm really having fun exploring some deep Kamelot cuts, songs I never paid much attention to at the time because the One Cold Winters Night was like a greatest hits. Songs like Nothing Ever Dies and Descent of the Archangel are freakin glorious. I'm also loving all of the bonus tracks from both eras I keep finding. I think I've unearthed ten or more bonus/Japanese/acoustic/remix songs.

I was an absolute effin fool for not recognizing the true genius of this band till now.

BTW, if you want to get hit in the feels, look up on youtube Kamelot reaction videos of people hearing them for the first time. Watching professional musicians, composers and vocal coaches shit themselves when they hear Tommy/Khan is pretty damn satisfying.

[Mardoch]

Nothing Ever Dies is one of my favorite Kamelot tunes. It's such a delightful ride.