KARMA

Before my progressive collection had seen the daylight I was interested in metal. When I was fifteen I found out there was also a thing called power metal, which had an melodic side and some emotional songwriting. Nowadays I don't listen to power metal anymore, but since Kamelot has been added to PA I'm willing to write something about some of favorite albums from my youth. Though power-metal isn't may favorite genre, I must say Kamelot is the finest bands of the genre; with less clichés then most other power-metal bands.

On Karma the band developed a songwriting style that would make them successful. All songs have a catchy side, nice instrumental parts and some have good lyrics. Vocalist Roy Khan has a distinctive voice and the ability to sing both low and high notes. The heavy metal guitars of Youngblood are always melodic and the clean guitar passages show a classical trained background. The bass en drums are as can be expected with power metal: up- tempo and a bit emotionless.

In this album tries to show some different type of tracks, but the band never leaves the power-metal atmosphere. The three-part epic on the end 'Elizabeth' shows the first real progressive move by the band with a nice concept and good compositions. It was a strong move to include this trilogy on the latest live dvd!

There isn't a weak track on the album (if you like genre that it!) and the album ends with a feeling of completeness due to it's final three-part offering. There is however little progressive music to be found on this album, though I understand why this band has been nominated for PA. Sometimes the line between very good hard rock or metal and progressive rock or metal is thin. Kamelot is one of the best power-metal groups and the next two albums shows the band going into a slight progressive direction. For this album I give the three stars rating. There's some good songwriting, but don't expect innovation. Recommend to fans of melodic metal, not to fans of technical metal.

Share this KAMELOT review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to friso
• Report this review (#276596)
• Buy KAMELOT music online with PA partners
• Show all KAMELOT MP3/Stream
• Go to KAMELOT page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Karma page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for KAMELOT related discussions