| | | Ratings (19) |
Give your Rating |
| 4.0 excellent | evildrvr | August 31st 26 |
This is peak modern-era Kamelot. There is an argument to be made that this is their best album since "The Black Halo".
Karevik-era Kamelot is what it is; formulaic song structures that rely heavily on strong choruses. The power metal
element has essentially been removed at this point, and what remains is a symphonic sound with poorly executed
progressive elements. My biggest complaint with previous albums has been the meandering leading up to the choruses.
"The Shadow Theory" was the worst offender, and it seemed to have been remedied somewhat in "The Awakening". This
album has now almost entirely eliminated that, with a few exceptions. There are no weak songs, each one is memorable.
The best songs are instant modern Kamelot classics. Karevik's vocals are good as always, and the guest vocalists fit in
excellently. The guitarwork by Youngblood remains average. The drumming seemed to be a step up compared to
previous releases.
For better or for worse, I don't think future releases by Kamelot can get much better than this. Song structure is still very
formulaic, and the lyrics are still edgy/cringe in certain tracks, but the songs are undeniably catchy and from a
songwriting perspective they are technically more sound than anything from “Ghost Opera” onwards. After multiple
listens, there are no skips on this album and it's an entertaining and encouraging listen for Kamelot fans.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | impoppy | September 2nd 26 |
A real mixed bag. It has some great highlights and Tommy finally shows off in ways he hasn't so far in his tenure, but dear lord is a lot of this really boring and just a rerun of the same thing they've done for a decade now. Frankly the entire first half of the record could be removed and it would immediately raise this rating by a point. There are also some moments that I would bet my life's savings have lyrics that were written by chatgpt. Considering their newfound love of AI artwork, it wouldn't shock me.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | Panzerchrist | August 30th 26 |
Sounds exactly like every other post-Roy Khan Kamelot effort.
Nothing I will ever remember to listen to again.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | pyroflare77 | August 29th 26 |
Not as uninspired sounding as I feared, but Youngblood is still asleep at the wheel with
songwriting and has made yet another spreadsheet metal album
Bump |
| 2.5 average | qt | September 1st 26 |
| 3.5 great | Mitch | August 30th 26 |
| 5.0 classic | KManoc1 | August 30th 26 |
| 3.5 great | Dmax28 | August 29th 26 |
| 4.0 excellent | TheGoni | August 28th 26 |
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