| The Black Halo | ||||
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| Studio album by Kamelot | ||||
| Released | March 15, 2005 | |||
| Recorded | June–October 2004 at Gate Studio, Wolfsburg, Germany) | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal Symphonic metal Power metal |
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| Length | 57:21 | |||
| Label | Steamhammer | |||
| Producer | Sascha Paeth and Miro | |||
| Kamelot chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic | [1] |
The Black Halo is the seventh full-length album produced by Symphonic Metal band Kamelot. It was released on March 15, 2005, through Steamhammer Records. It is a concept album loosely based on Goethe's Faust. Continuing the story introduced in Epica, it is the second and final record in Kamelot's two-part concept about Ariel. It features guest appearances by Simone Simons (Epica), Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir), Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), and several others. The album was released on vinyl in the spring of 2009, along with Ghost Opera.[2][3][4]
All songs written and composed by Kamelot.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "March of Mephisto" (feat. Shagrath) | 5:28 |
| 2. | "When the Lights are Down" | 3:41 |
| 3. | "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)" (feat. Simone Simons) | 5:40 |
| 4. | "Soul Society" | 4:17 |
| 5. | "Interlude I: Dei Gratia" | 0:57 |
| 6. | "Abandoned" (feat. Mari Youngblood) | 4:07 |
| 7. | "This Pain" | 3:59 |
| 8. | "Moonlight" | 5:10 |
| 9. | "Interlude II: Un Assassinio Molto Silenzioso" | 0:40 |
| 10. | "The Black Halo" | 3:43 |
| 11. | "Nothing Ever Dies" | 4:45 |
| 12. | "Memento Mori" (feat. Shagrath & Mari Youngblood) | 8:54 |
| 13. | "Interlude III: Midnight - Twelve Tolls for a New Day" | 1:21 |
| 14. | "Serenade" | 4:32 |
| 15. | "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time) (radio edit)" (feat. Simone Simons) (limited edition bonus track) | 3:42 |
| 16. | "March of Mephisto (radio edit)" (feat. Shagrath) (limited edition bonus track) | 3:31 |
| 17. | "Epilogue" (Japanese bonus track) | 2:46 |
| 18. | "Soul Society (radio edit)" (Japanese bonus track) | 3:52 |
There is also a short hidden track (1:22) in the pregap. Rewinding from "March of Mephisto" on some CD players reveal a couple entering a theatre and being told that they have "just made it to the second act", referring to The Black Halo as the second album in a two-part concept.
In Ariel's moment of weakness, Mephisto's hold on the alchemist's will is at its highest point. He finds Marguerite, a beautiful girl in the Town. She looks and sounds like Helena. In an attempt to console Ariel, Mephisto delivers her to him, paving the way for her seduction. His control and power over Ariel are represented musically by harsh bass lines and death grunts. He convinces Ariel to follow through with this course of action. Thus, as Marguerite seduces Ariel's body, Mephisto seduces Ariel's mind.
Both seductions are completed. Mephisto gains control over Ariel's will, and Ariel's illusioned lust for Marguerite is consummated. The two sleep together. Afterward, Ariel's mind emerges from Mephisto's grip, and he realizes who he has slept with. He yearns for Helena, and, as his mind begins to recover, remembers her death, and the events leading up to it.
Ariel explains himself to Marguerite as best he can. He explains that he saw her as a mere shadow of his dead lover, that any feelings he has for her are a mere facade of his love for Helena, and that he can never love her the way she loves him. In a tragic and moving duet, he urges her to leave and forget about him. But he says that, perhaps, they may one day reunite. With that, he leaves, never to see her again.
We once again enter Ariel's troubled mind. He laments the afflictions with which humanity is chained. He wonders how such evil and misfortune came about as the result of his good intentions of finding the ultimate truth. He remarks on the insignificance of human life. Above all, he wishes that humans could live in a free and perfect world, but knows that it will never happen. And once again, he is tormented by his role in the death of Helena and the unborn child.
This interlude marks Ariel's realization that he can never find the great answers in this universe, and that the ultimate truth must lie in Heaven alone.
With this, Ariel is struck by a sudden realization: Because of the sins he has committed and the binding promise he has made with Mephisto, he has severed any possibility of connecting with the divine. He can never enter Heaven, never see Helena again, and never find the ultimate truth. For the first time, he realizes that he is truly all alone. Musically, this begins with a very soft ballad form, gradually building into a "power ballad." Lost and confused, he calls out in despair to God. In a daze, he leaves Mephisto, wanders out of Town, and crosses the still frozen River.
In his mind's eye, Ariel looks back on his journey. He reflects on leaving Helena and her resulting death, and his abandonment of Marguerite. He has forsaken the two women who loved him. He realizes that he is the cause of this sorrow and pain, and that he will never be free from the consequences of his actions.
Ariel decides that he cannot possibly repent for all he has done, and that even if he could, mere repentance would not be enough. This prompts him out of his reverie, into action. Setting out under the moonlight, he sails back across the now melted River, in search of Mephisto. Once across, he approaches the demon's castle.
Standing outside the castle, Ariel looks at the full moon, wondering if anything besides death and damnation lie in his future.
A defiant Ariel resigns himself to death. He denounces Mephisto as a liar and traitor, and challenges him. He no longer fears the eternal darkness that inevitably awaits. He resolves to live a life of purity and goodness like Helena did, even though he knows it is too late for him to escape damnation. He embraces righteousness, not for any reward or redemption—there is no hope of that—but simply to be righteous.
Ariel reflects that every human, throughout all of history, struggles with these same questions of right and wrong, love and lust, righteousness and sin, faith and doctrine. In a sudden moment of clarity, he comes to a profound realization: Love, including the love between Helena and himself, is the only universal truth. In this revelation, he realizes that he not only knew this truth all along, but that, for his part, he created it.
This realization prompts Ariel to enter that moment of supreme contentment, spurring his deal with Mephisto into action. Musically, it begins almost like a ballad, but quickly builds in speed and intensity. In this moment, as Ariel's soul leaves his body, everything falls into place within his mind. He understands, at last, that, even having found this universal truth of love, he can never be truly satisfied in this world; that death comes to everyone; that no human is simply good or evil; that he alone is the master of his destiny; and that he creates the meaning of his own life. With this final existential revelation, under Mephisto's binding promise, Ariel's soul departs. But it does not come into Mephisto's clutches. Having rejected evil even in the face of certain damnation, Ariel has, beyond all hope, redeemed himself at last. His soul is saved, and ascends to Heaven to join Helena. Mephisto, his divine bet lost, is cast forever into Hell. Musically, this is shown through his long, wailing death grunt and screams. The song fades back into the ballad form from which it began. Here, the story of Ariel properly ends, but there is a bit more to the tale.
In an inversion of the "Prologue in the Theatre" from Goethe's Faust, we see that this tale is in fact a play put on for the New Year's festival in the town of Gatesville.
An uplifting, medium- and fast-paced tribute to comedy and tragedy, life and death, joy and sorrow. The overall message of renewal is personified in the penultimate verse: "What does the winter bring, if not yet another spring?"
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