GHOST OPERA

After the magnificent ‘The Black Halo’, the band tried to put up some decent follow up, which known as ‘Ghost Opera’. This album takes a bit different approach of their usual sounds, incorporating some orchestration and creating some sort of opera theatre atmosphere. Not that using orchestra pieces is something that new to the band, they had done it in a few albums before, the best example probably is in ‘The Fourth Legacy’. So what makes ‘Ghost Opera’ is more special than the other album then? I’d say the atmosphere. Yes, this album is somehow more atmospheric than their other works. The orchestration maybe isn’t something new, but in this album, they’re more focused, or rather emphasized, thus becoming a special point of this album.

So that’s the overview of the album more or less, now let’s go further into the tracks. This album opens with ‘Solitaire’, a short orchestrated track similar to their other works before ‘The Black Halo’. This followed right up with ‘Rule the World’. This is where the atmosphere of the album developing, with the strong orchestration and all, great track. Next is the title track. This one is quite typical of Kamelot sounds, plus the orchestra and bit of choir. What I mean with typical here is the mix of power metal (notable from the guitar riffs and drumming in some parts)and progressive elements which features the strong voices of Roy Khan, and great solo from Thomas Youngblood, awesome track!

Then we come to ‘The Human Stain’ is something that quite different from what the band have done so far, and by this I mean not only on this album, but also on their entire career. Yes, from the opening of this song, one that already familiar with their works would likely recognize it. This song sound a bit like some heavy metal at the beginning and then turned into an amazing symphonic metal track with great chorus. So far, it’s been great. However the album then started to go a bit downward from here. ‘Blücher’ is a track with medium tempo that features Simone Simons who make an appearance before in ‘The Black Halo’. It’s quite good actually although it didn’t impress me that much. ‘Love You to Death’ is a great track with beautiful opening and chorus, and it’s actually lift up the mood of the album again.

It’s now getting heavier again with the next three tracks. ‘Up Through the Ashes’ is a strong track with powerful choir and orchestration parts. It’s followed by ‘Mourning Star’, a good and quite haunting track, especially due to the orchestration and the backup choir, and then we have ‘Silence of the Darkness’, a powerful and speedy track, clearly represents the power metal side of the band, heavy riffs, strong drumming, and also check out the great keyboard solo. After those heavy tracks, we’ll hear ‘Anthem’, a very beautiful ballad that features some great piano melody and great vocal from Khan.

Now we’re approaching the end of the album, and ‘Eden Echo’ is an awesome track that suits the job perfectly! This song has a great orchestrated opening, great vocal and choir, and also some guitar solo. I’d say that actually the last three tracks are definitely bringing back the great atmosphere that you’ll catch within the first few tracks. Therefore, in my opinion, only the middle parts of this album that couldn’t match up with the rest of the album. Still, all of them are good efforts and there isn’t any weak track in this album.

Overall, this is a good album, almost great. However, it’s probably not really live to the expectation one would expect after something really awesome like ‘The Black Halo’, at least that’s how I feel about this album. Why’s that? Well, that’s because even though the orchestration quite helps in making this album different, the overall sounds is a bit generic. The band aren’t doing something that really different here and somehow there’s something lacking about this album. It’s not a really disappointing album, though; I’d say that ‘Ghost Opera’ could even become one of the possible choices to start with Kamelot. Interestingly enough, I find that I enjoy the album more when listening to it at night. 4 stars.

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