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Kamelot
The Black Halo
SPV Records, 2005
Three or four years ago when I got this CD, I quickly labeled it as insipid and carefully placed it in a tight drawer thinking it would never come out of there again. Certainly too difficult for my ears accustomed to indulging in easy, easy melodies. Only a few months ago I reopened that drawer, and "The Black Halo" started spinning in my stereo again. I took the booklet and began to read the concept album.
FAUST/ ARIEL
Kamelot is an absolutely atypical, difficult, and original metal band and I am only partially surprised by their choice to draw inspiration from Goethe's greatest work, Faust, for the lyrics of their sixth album. The concept revolves around a wise alchemist (Ariel) who has an infinite thirst for knowledge and allows himself to be tempted by Mefistele (an angel cast out from paradise) betting with God that he can obtain the man's soul. His soul is precariously balanced between salvation and damnation, and it is plagued by countless unanswered questions that continuously haunt him.
In the personal reinterpretation of the work, Ariel (who in the previous album "Epica" witnessed the suicide of his great love Helena, who was also expecting a child) is, as already mentioned, tempted by Mephisto who promises him, in exchange for his soul, a moment of pure pleasure. A pleasure so intense and profound that even he, a desperate person, would eventually wish with all his being that it would never end. He accepts, and a beautiful woman arrives who reminds him of Helena in every way, with whom he makes passionate love. Regretful for what he has done (still in love with Helena and fully aware that this condition can never change), he escapes and wanders with the weight of a tormented conscience. He understands that humanity is too weak and can never live in a perfect world. He is aware that he will never find the truth and with what he has done, he will never be able to reach God and his beloved. He finds himself alone in an abandoned world full of anguish for all the pain he caused Helena and feels responsible for her death. The only thing he feels compelled to do is confront Mephisto and renounce his diabolic pact. Not to seek personal salvation, but for a sense of justice. By confronting him and repenting of his pact, he realizes that every person has their beliefs, but the only universal truth is love. At the moment of his death, strong in his discovery, his soul leaves the body and is saved as, in the eyes of God, he had the courage to renounce Mephisto. He can embrace Helena, while Mephisto, having lost the bet, sinks into hell forever.
THE TRANSPOSITION INTO MUSIC
Transposing such a concept album into music is certainly not a simple task, but Kamelot has the characteristics to express the desperation and torment of the protagonist. The first card is represented by the Norwegian singer Roy Khan. A singer capable of excelling at lower tones, carefully distributing the high notes, and in general, well embodying the philosophical and sad character of Ariel. Simone Simmons as the "temptation," Shagrath as Mephisto, and Mari Youngblood as Melena complete the set of perfectly matched singers. The music of the entire album moves along decidedly metallic and heavy tracks. Massive riffs often intertwine with epic and hypnotic mid-tempos. This is the case with the opener "March of Mephisto," where orchestral pauses alternate with a growl. Among the most immediate songs, the fast (double pedal) "When The Lights Are Down" with a neoclassical and variable break, and the super hit "Soul Society" which brings to mind the Karma era, must be mentioned.
But the most exhilarating moments are represented by the duet between Simone Simmons and Khan in the symphonic crescendo "The Haunting." In "Abandoned," Roy enters our ears with a deep and warm voice that follows the melodic lines of the piano and orchestra for 5 minutes of musical despair. The sonic anger is fully expressed in "Moonlight" with melodic lines that unsuccessfully try to make their way through the obsessive riffing. The dark and not at all reassuring tones also unfold in the mid-tempo "This Pain," although it shows some greater openness in the chorus phase. In the final part of the album, when Ariel rebels against Mephisto, we are faced with an overflowing and pompous symphonic power metal. "Nothing Ever Dies" carries more airy melodic lines joined by pauses for reflection, while the concluding "Memento Mori" gives space to changeability. How to transpose the division between soul and body into music? Kamelot tries with 9 minutes of atmospheres of expectation, often sung in a whisper in a crescendo that leaves ample room for instrumental phases and choir.
CONCLUSIONS
An album not for everyone. You need to be patient and have a trained ear to digest such a tracklist that cares little for immediacy. Numerous are the breaks, rhythm changes, intros, and above all, great attention is paid to matching music and lyrics with vocal interpretations and the use of classical music in a metal key. The songs are often altered in progress and departing from the usual verse-bridge-chorus-solo-verse-chorus structure is not the exception but the rule. A deliberately demanding CD that can offer great satisfaction or terribly bore.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 March of Mephisto (05:28)
ASPIRAT PRIMO FORTUNA LABORI
ME DUCE TUTUS ERIS
VOX POPULI VOX DEI
AD MAIOREM DEI GLORIAM...
AD INFINITUM
[English translation:]
[The fortune is smiling at our first effort,
let me lead you and you will be safe,
the voice of people, voice of god
for bigger glory of the god
to the infinity.]
You know just who I am
Don't be so distant
Cause when you're lost
I am solely there to share your grief
Wailing for your sorrow
Is only my way to comfort you
Reminders of innocent youth
Waiting for morrow you're lonely
I name your solitude
I speaketh the truth
Now tell me all about your pain
Down to the detail
Don't say it's love
Your fragile heart feeds my contempt
Wailing for your sorrow
Is only my way to comfort you
Reminders of innocent youth
Waiting for morrow you're lonely
I name your solitude
I speaketh the truth
Chase the heathen call
We belong... you and I
Unison in all you deny
Wailing for your sorrow
Is only my way to comfort you
Reminders of innocent youth
Waiting for morrow you're lonely
I name your solitude
I speaketh the truth
I am the thorn in your side
That seeks accomplishment
Reminding the mortal of death
I am the spore of your pride
An angel heaven sent
The master of all
I am the urge of the flesh
Reminding the mortal of death
DEATH
02 When the Lights Are Down (03:41)
Rules without exceptions last eternally
Every move you make creates your destiny
I've come to soak my sorrow in halo black
As black as the seal on my soul
Cause when the lights are down
There's no more to say
Love is the real pain
An internal revolution in our minds
And when the lights are down
You're so far away
Tell me your real name
In the silence of the darkness we unite
(Rules without exceptions last eternally
Every move you make creates your destiny)
What can protect me from the past
And all the things that I have done
She told me and then she was gone
But when the lights are down
There's no more to say
Deep in the shadows
Where the last of my delusions made a stand
Cause when the lights are down
She'll take me away
Tell me her real name
And in death we'll live the love we never had
Come all ye faithful beneath the moon
Into the void as one
Marching on
03 The Haunting (Somewhere in Time) (05:40)
Merely the sound of your voice
Made me believe that, that you were her
Just like the river disturbs
...my inner peace
Once I believed I could find
Just a trace of her beloved soul
Once I believed she was all
Then she smothered my beliefs
One cold winter's night
I may follow her voice to the river
Leave, leave me for now and forever
Leave what you can
Somewhere in time
I will find you and haunt you again
Like the wind sweeps the earth
Somewhere in time
When no virtues are left to defend
You fallen deep
I was a liar in every debate
I rules the forced that fueled your hate
When the cold in my heart leaves
It comes to an end
Quietly I'll go to sleep
How could that first time recur
When memories linger on
What made me think you were her
Helena is dead to all, dead to all
Nothing can bring her to life
Don't pretend that I'll be loving you
Once I believed she was gone
I corrupted from within
Leave me for now and forever
Leave what you can
Somewhere in time
I will find you and haunt you again
Like the wind sweeps the earth
Somewhere in time
When no virtues are left to defend
You fallen deep
I was a liar in every debate
I rules the forced that fueled your hate
When the cold in my heart leaves
It comes to an end
Quietly now go to sleep
[Roy]
Follow me into the light
[Simone]
Like ice on a lake of tear
I'll take you through
[Roy]
Leave me tonight
[Roy]
I've gone too far to begin all anew
[Simone]
Life fades in anew
[Roy and Simone]
With someone like you
Somewhere in time
I will find you and love you again
Like the wind sweeps the earth
Somewhere in time
When no virtues are left to defend
You fallen deep
I was a liar in every debate
I rules the forced that fueled your hate
When the cold in my heart leaves
It comes to an end
Quietly now go to sleep
Sleep...
04 Soul Society (04:17)
If my soul could revive
From my carnal remains
What does it matter to me
If it all fades to black
If I'm born once again
Then no one really is free
How could I be condemned
For the things that I've done
If my intentions were good
I guess I'll never know
Some things under the sun
Can never be understood
How can we believe in heaven
Human reason counters all
Ideas of a soul society
My life is just a fragment
Of the universe and all
There must be more than I can see
In the dark we're the same
In the concept of time
We're like a grain in the sand
And we strive for the flame
As if death was our aim
Cause we cannot understand
How I wish there was a heaven
All for one and one for all
A flawless soul society
Our lives are just a fragment
Of the universe and all
There may be more than we can see
06 Abandoned (04:07)
Once my life was plain and clear
I recall
Once my ignorance was bliss
Nightfall came
Like a serpent's kiss
To my troubled mind
Why my God
Have you abandoned me
In my sobriety
Behind the old facade
I'm your bewildered child
So take me cross the river wide
Binding promises were made
On my soul
Grand illusions lead astray
Ice cold winds swept my heart away
Bring me back to you
Why my God
Have you abandoned me
In my sobriety
Behind the old facade
I'm your bewildered child
So take me cross the river wide
[Helena]
I remember a song
Like in a dream
Where September was long
And winter unreal
Why my God above
Have you abandoned me
In my sobriety
Behind the old facade
I'm your bewildered child
So take me cross the river wide
07 This Pain (03:59)
Pushing for the limit of sanity
Pushing for the surface
...so I can breathe
Dark is the night for us all, but some days
I feel the light crawling down from these jagged walls
Blessed sunlight
Some of this pain is sole subjected
But what was I to do
Some of this pain will always stay
Deep and true
I left her with a warning... without protection
The human nature has it's ways with lust
With her back against the wall she crumbled
Just a minute more would have saved her life
And even so... part of me
Blessed sunlight
Some of this pain is sole subjected
But what was I to do
Some of this pain will always stay
Deep and true
I see her shame in my desire
It all took place too soon
Some of these wounds will always bleed
Over you
08 Moonlight (05:10)
I have never craved the system’s sympathy
I get restless over pitys smiles
Some precaution wouldn’t harm my history
If I had the will to wait a little while
You cut the silence like a knife
You know I can't repent for all
Moonlight falling over me
Sail on where the shadows hide
Moonlight crawling down on me
Just like you could not compete with my pride
Compensation for a misconducted life
Is it way too much to ask?
Hard to wake up
With your heart and soul deprived
When the morning comes
the second to your last
You cut the silence like a knife
At the edge of my last defences
You cut the silence like a knife
you know I won't repent for all
Moonlight falling over me
Sail on where the shadows hide
Moonlight crawling down on me
Just like you could not compete with my pride
Shine on silver from the sky into the night
Gaia shivers and I need your leading light
Moonlight falling over me
Sail on where the shadows hide
Moonlight crawling down on me
Just like you could not compete with my pride
10 The Black Halo (03:43)
Come wind
Come snow
Come winterland
I have resigned myself to death
Come will to show the hidden hand
So I can draw my final breath
You could take me higher
So you said and I trusted you
I may be a liar, but betrayal lies on you
I can feel when the journey ends
Final call for a last defense
Darkness come tonight
I have no fear of what you hold
Darkness come alive
You are the stories I've been told
I possess the power
Of survival in the cold
Life is like a flower
As it stumbles out of fall
We all know when our time has come
This is where I will linger on
Darkness come tonight
I have no fear of what you hold
Darkness come alive
You are the stories I've been told
Darkness come tonight
Nothing can take my faith away
Darkness come alive
Life fades to black from silver grey
11 Nothing Ever Dies (04:45)
Here we are
Under the same old sun
All alone yet somehow bound and unified
Dust to dust…
Ashes to ashes won't take long
we search for a harbour
somewhere to belong
They say that faith is all you need
To stay forever young
What you’ve sown is what you reap
our sins can’t be undone
There is a god in each society
So right is wrong where wrong is right
No-one could be sure
Still we are certain
That we know is truth
The only truth
We’re building our temples taller
They say that faith is all you need
To stay forever young
What you’ve sown is what you reap
our sins can’t be undone
How can we trust them once again
They use to tell us lies
Their voices will sustain
Cause nothing ever dies
Love is the only truth
Pure as the well of youth
Until it breaks your heart
You took me higher
Than the mountains I have climbed
You waited all your life for me
You left me all alone behind
But we'll meet again
We will meet again
All alone
Stuck without you
They say that faith is all you need
To stay forever young
What you’ve sown is what you reap
our sins can’t be undone
How can we trust them once again
They use to tell us lies
Their voices will sustain
Cause nothing ever dies
14 Serenade (04:33)
Songs of pain and soothing lullabies
Songs of happiness and some that make us cry
One song we share
The cross we all bear
One that segregates
One that unifies
All we wonder
No one ever denies
If once given life we must die
So bow down with me
Where summer fades into fall
And leave your hatchets of hate
Bow down with me
And sing the saddest of all
The song we all serenade
The more we know
The less we understand
Life... eternity
The savagery of man
We want it all
Aimed at the fall
What is destiny with the masterplan
All we wonder
No one ever denies
If once given life we must die
So bow down with me
Where summer fades into fall
And leave your hatchets of hate
Bow down with me
And sing the saddest of all
The song we all serenade
Hold on now
Don't leave don't let it go
Dance away the waltz of life
Right or wrong
The seed we never sow
That's our loss
Our sacrifice
What does the winter bring
If not yet another spring
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Other reviews
By Darkmind
Once the CD is inserted and eyes are closed, the adventure begins, a suggestive adventure that leads to the exploration of melodies, places, colors, people.
'Memento Mori' is undoubtedly the best track... emotions have now reached the highest point, beyond is impossible to go.
