Kamelot

Kamelot is an American power metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed by Thomas Youngblood and Richard Warner in 1991. The Norwegian vocalist Roy Khan joined for the album Siége Perilous, and shared songwriting credit with Youngblood until his departure in April 2011. On June 22, 2012, Youngblood announced on their website that their new vocalist is the Swedish singer Tommy Karevik, who was first featured on Kamelot's album Silverthorn as main vocalist, co-songwriter and lyricist.

As of 2015, Kamelot had released eleven studio albums (excluding two reissues), two live albums, one live DVD, and seventeen music videos. Their latest studio album is Haven, which was released May 2015 via Napalm Records.

Biography

Early years (1988-2000)

Kamelot was unofficially formed back in 1988 by Thomas Youngblood, Richard Warner and others as "Camelot". The band recorded "Breaking The Silence" for the "Tampa Bay's Metal Mercenaries: The Invasion" a cassette of various Heavy Metal bands from Tampa Bay produced by Keith "Thumper" Collins (ex-bassist for Savatage).

The official foundation was in 1991, in Florida, by Youngblood and Warner.^[2] Three years later, the band signed a deal with Noise Records and released its first album, Eternity, in 1995. The next album, Dominion, was released in 1997. Later that year, the drummer and founder Warner and the lead vocalist Mark Vanderbilt were replaced by drummer Casey Grillo and vocalist Roy Khan (formerly of Conception).^[2][3] With these two new members, Kamelot released its third studio album, Siege Perilous, in 1998. The band undertook its first tour during toward the end of the year, playing shows across Europe. Following this, the band returned to Tampa to write music for a new album titled The Fourth Legacy.

Karma, Epica and The Black Halo (2000-2005)

In mid-2000, Kamelot undertook the "New Allegiance Tour" through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece and Spain, during which the recordings for Kamelot's first live album The Expedition were made. A few months later, the band released its fifth album, Karma. The sixth album, Epica, was released in 2003. Both Epica and the band's seventh album, The Black Halo, which was released in 2005, are based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's version of the legend of Faust,^[4] a man who sells his soul to the devil. To support the new album, the band toured through Europe (with At Vance as a supporting band) and Japan. During the first leg of the "Black Halo World Tour 2005", Kamelot played a headliner show with Epica and Kotipelto. In Japan, the supporting group was Silent Force. The band also played at the Bang Your Head!!! Festival in Germany and the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium.

Roy Khan was Kamelot's longest-serving lead vocalist, from 1998 to 2011.

In 2005, Kamelot made its first music videos for the songs "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)" and "March of Mephisto" from the album The Black Halo. Both videos were shot by the prolific director Patric Ullaeus. On October 5, 2005, Kamelot added Oliver Palotai as the fifth official band member; Palotai played both keyboards and (additional) guitars.

On the second leg of the Black Halo World Tour, Kamelot visited North America (Canada and the United States), South America (Brazil), and Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden). On February 11, 2006, the band's live DVD, One Cold Winter's Night was filmed by Patric Ullaeus at the Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo, Norway. It was released on November 17, 2006, in Germany, on November 20 in other parts of Europe, and on November 21 in the US and Canada via SPV Records.

Ghost Opera, Poetry for the Poisoned and Khan's departure (2006-2010)

In late 2006, the band returned to Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany, to record the album, Ghost Opera, which was released on June 1, 2007, in Germany, on June 4 in the rest of Europe, and on June 5 in the US. The album was recorded and mixed at Gate Studios and Pathway Studios in Wolfsburg with the producers Sascha Paeth and Miro. Music videos were made for the songs "Ghost Opera", "The Human Stain", "Rule the World" and "Love You to Death". A re-issue of Ghost Opera, labeled Ghost Opera: the Second Coming, was released shortly after its predecessor. It contains the entire original Ghost Opera album and a second CD with ten live songs recorded during a concert in Belgrade, Serbia, with the additional bonus tracks, "Season's End", "The Pendulous Fall", "Epilogue" and "Rule the World (Remixed)". The World Tour 2008-2009 for Ghost Opera included three legs in Europe and one US Tour, support bands were Edguy, Firewind, Leaves' Eyes, Delain and Serenity. During the summers of 2008 and 2009 they played festivals like Wacken Open Air, Rock am Ring, Sonisphere Festival and Metal Rock Fest in Lillehammer. At the TT Circuit Assen they played as support with Within Temptation for Iron Maiden.^[5]

In December 2009, Youngblood announced that the bass guitarist Glenn Barry had officially left the band and had been replaced by the touring bass guitarist and an original Kamelot member, Sean Tibbetts.^[6]

In January 2009, Kamelot started working on their ninth studio album, in a cabin in Norway. It was said that the band was exploring "new sounds" and that the topics on the new album would be diverse.^[7] During early 2010, Kamelot published the titles of three songs from the upcoming album on their official website: "The Great Pandemonium", "Hunter's Season" and "Thespian Drama". They also revealed that guest musicians would appear: Simone Simons (she provided vocals for the ballad "House on a Hill" and the album's title track), and later Gus G, of the Greek power metal band Firewind.^[7][8] On March 25, 2010, they began the "Pandemonium over Europe" tour, which ended on April 26, 2010. Afterward, the band revealed the title of their ninth studio album as Poetry for the Poisoned. It was released by earMUSIC (the international label of the entertainment group Edel) in Europe on September 10, 2010, and by the band's own label KMG Recordings (via Knife Fight Media and Dismanic Distribution) in North America on September 14, 2010.^[9] A music video for "The Great Pandemonium" was directed by Owe Lingvall and was released on September 1, 2010.^[9][10] Poetry for the Poisoned entered the US Billboard 200 charts at number 74, selling 6,100 copies in its first week. (Source: Blabbermouth, Kamelot.com) During the summer of 2010 they played a festival summer tour which included festivals like Wacken Open Air, Rock am Ring, Tuska Open Air Festival. The last festival of the tour was Sziget Festival on August, 14th.^[5]

On September 6, 2010, the band announced that Khan had fallen seriously ill during rehearsals for the upcoming North American tour, just a few days before its scheduled start, and had returned to Norway. While it was initially reported that the band would continue the tour with the Norwegian vocalist Michael Eriksen of Circus Maximus in Khan's place,^[11] the band later announced that it would postpone the tour with Khan, though one show was performed with Eriksen at the ProgPower USA XI festival in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 10, 2010.^[12] However, on December 16, due to Khan's lingering illness, it was announced that Fabio Lione of Rhapsody of Fire would replace Khan for the remaining and rescheduled dates on the Pandemonium over Latin America, Europe and North America tours in 2011, and later the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise in 2012.^[13] Other guest singers appeared on selected shows, such as Simone Simons singing The Haunting and Don't You Cry, Tommy Karevik singing Center of the Universe, EdenEcho and The Human Stain, Snowy Shaw as Mephisto on March of Mephisto, Alissa White-Gluz also as Mephisto on March of Mephisto and Atle Pettersen on Karma. On April 15, 2011, the band released Poetry for the Poisoned & Live from Wacken – Limited Tour Edition, containing the audio from Khan's last recorded show with the band.

Following a period of uncertainty, Khan and Kamelot released separate statements on April 21 and 22 respectively, announcing Khan's departure from the band. According to Youngblood, the band was already searching for a new singer, with the deadline for submissions at the end of January.^[14][15]

New singer, Silverthorn, Haven, and upcoming album (2011-present)

Karevik officially assumed Khan's place as lead vocalist in 2012.

On June 22, Kamelot introduced Seventh Wonder's Tommy Karevik as their new official vocalist. Karevik had previously appeared as one of the guest singers on the 2011 Pandemonium World Tour, and was thrilled about his new position: “I am so honored to now be a part of this family and I can't wait to move into the new era of the band together with the guys. I fully understand that this comes with great responsibility and that it will be a big challenge for me as a singer as well as a person, but you can rest assured I will give it my all. From this day, a new journey has begun and I am really eager to meet you all along the way to share my passion for this music!”.^[16] Their first show with Karevik was on July 12, 2012 at Masters of Rock.

Kamelot returned to the German label SPV GmbH to release their tenth record (their first with Karevik), which was unveiled as Silverthorn in July, along with a release date of October 26, 2012. A music video was released for the first single from Silverthorn, "Sacrimony (Angel Of Afterlife)".^[17] The band joined Nightwish on their Northern American tour as special guests during September and October 2012 in the period leading up to the release of Silverthorn, along with guest-vocalists Elize Ryd and Alissa White-Gluz.^[18] Following the North American tour Kamelot embarked on a European headlining tour during November 2012, with support on the tour coming from Xandria, Triosphere and Blackguard. Silverthorn was greeted with positive reviews and the band once again charted in the top 100 on the US Billboard Charts at number 79. The band also toured new countries on Silverthorn including Australia, Korea and Taiwan. The touring cicle for the album ended with tours in, Europe, North America and finally in Southamerica 2014.^[5] During an interview in 2013, Youngblood stated that new vocalist Karevik exceeded expectations.^[19] During another interview on October 3, Youngblood stated that Kamelot would start recording their next album in mid-2014.^[20]

In 2014 the band took some time off from touring, to concentrate on working on the next album. They only played two festivals in Europe, Sweden Rock Festival and Masters@Rock Festival and two club shows, one in Trondheim and one in Haarlem. In Haarlem they played a special acoustic set that included the live premiere of Welcome Home and the acoustic premiere of Karma.^[21]

On February 23, 2015, it was announced that the new Kamelot album would be called Haven. It was released on May 5 of that year. Alissa White-Gluz, Troy Donockley, and Charlotte Wessels appear as guests on the album.^[22]

The album was well received by critics and fans which resulted in entering the US Billboard Charts at number 75 and the Billboard Hard Rock Charts at number 1. Shortly before the release of the album Kamelot began a new world tour to promote the album which started in North America with Dragonforce as special guests. During summer they played at Masters of Rock, Kavarna Rock Fest and Rock by the River Festival. Later in the year the band returned to Europe with Kobra and the Lotus and Gus G as support. Between their shows in Milan and Strasbourg, they headed to Japan over the weekend, to play at Loud Park Festival for the first time. 2015 was concluded with the second leg of the American tour, again with Dragonforce. Kamelots focus in 2016 continues on live shows in support of Haven and brings them again to Europe, but also tour Japan and South America.^[5] Kamelot released three music videos for Haven so far: Insomnia, Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy) and My Therapy.

February 2, 2017 marked the second time for Kamelot joining the metal cruise 70000 Tons of Metal.^[23] The band opened for Iron Maiden and Ghost with Exodus on July 1, 2017 at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino. Casey Grillo did not attend the show, so Alex Landenburg from Luca Turilli's Rhapsody filled in.^[24]

In October 2015, Thomas Youngblood confirmed that they were making plans for a live concert DVD with Karevik. In 2016, the band announced that, following the end of the third Haven tour and a "couple of more [touring] dates", they would be working on a new album, set to be released in early 2018.^[25] Though nothing has yet been confirmed, a banner posted on Youngblood's Facebook page hinted that the album would be a continuation of Haven. The album's slogan, currently is "The Revolution is Just Beginning", hinting at the second to last song of Haven, "Revolution".

Personnel

Timeline

Discography

• Eternity (1995)
• Dominion (1997)
• Siége Perilous (1998)
• The Fourth Legacy (1999)
• Karma (2001)
• Epica (2003)
• The Black Halo (2005)
• Ghost Opera (2007)
• Poetry for the Poisoned (2010)
• Silverthorn (2012)
• Haven (2015)
• TBA (2018)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kamelot.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Kamelot

• Official website
• Metal Israel Exclusive Interview: Glenn Barry of Kamelot Part 1 (October 2007)