Kamelot - Haven

Published May 03 2015

*=Staff's pick	Fallen Star* Insomnia Citizen Zero Veil Of Elysium* Under Grey Skies My Therapy* Ecclesia End Of Innocence* Beautiful Apocalypse Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)* Here's To The Fall Revolution Haven

Genre	Progr./Symphonic Metal	Tommy Karevik	Vocals
Tracks	13	Thomas Youngblood	Guitar
Running time	54 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Napalm Records	Sean Tibbetts	Bass
Release	May 04, 2015	Casey Grillo	Drums
Country	USA	Oliver Palotai	Keyboard
Producer	Sascha Paeth
Similar artists	---

Additional personnel: Alissa White-Gluz, Charlotte Wessels and Troy Donockley.

Kamelot's 11th studio record and the second one with Tommy Karevik behind the mic. Succeeding the much appreciated Roy Khan, Karevik managed against all odds, with the last album Silverthorn and the following touring cycle, to quickly consolidate his position as the new lead vocalist in the band, which to many fans was more or less an impossible mission, if I at this present point look back at the singer swap situation a few years ago.

Haven definitely follows what Kamelot has presented during the last decade, since this release too is a melodic and semi-progressive metal experience with rather distinct symphonic elements included and the band has also decided to continue to bring forward a pair of female additional vocalists as well; one clean and one sort of demonic. They all together seem to keep their feet on the ground and they are smart enough to stay away from too intricate and really complex parts just to get some change in the end result.

It's indeed a diverse record, including all from kind of faster power metal songs to somewhat trite and cheesy ballads. Almost each song contains some kind of great variety too and the musical outcome often change tempo rapidly from slower to faster and vice versa. This piece in total definitely has depth and width and the choruses are really triggering your senses, although I feel that the record perhaps lacks the really awesome tracks. To be more exact, most of the material ends up on a really valid level at the end of the day though.

The record's overall production comes out clear and confident, even if I find it a little bit annoying when the volume gets louder during occasional choruses and some melodic parts that they wanna put a greater impression on, in order to catch the interest of the listener like you would normally do to pop radio consumers. Anyway, if you're able to ignore those small sonic mishaps and if you find great satisfaction in Kamelot's latest efforts, I think it's safe to say that you will like this record as well.

See also review of: Silverthorn , The Black Halo , Epica , Karma
See also: interview with Thomas/Tommy

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	5	7	8	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Tobbe