Kamelot have released a second live album, and it is quite the trip indeed. Their first live offering was "The Expedition" back in 2000, so its been a few years since we have had the treat of hearing the band crank it live. Their set is pulled from mostly the past three releases, with the majority of the material being pulled from the fantastic "The Black Halo" album, arguably their greatest accomplishment yet.
The years have been kind to the band, and they have elevated themselves from playing a simpler form of metal that had a straightforward Crimson Glory-like sound. These days, they are creating epic masterpieces that engage the use of a full orchestra and a metal clashes with symphonic feel with a good dose of Euro metal stylings. Their music is pompous, dazzlingly intricate power metal with keenly guided progressive touches. Even on stage, the tracks are precisely performed without letting the passion escape from the live renditions. They suck you right into the concert, each guitar solo wrapped in all the mystery and magic, weaving its audience spellbound.
"One Cold Winter's Night" rings more metallic than the studio cds, with Youngblood's guitar especially taking center stage. Riffs are fiery, sharp and in great abundance. His axework is stunning and is a treat to hear. A trio of females are on hand to play certain roles and back up the theatrical Khan - who delivers each track with thunderous emotion. A princess sings for
"Nights of Arabia", which is especially of note as this version is crunchier and seems so epic in proportion.
"The Black Halo" is laid down with an eager heaviness and both
"Moonlight" and
"Kharma" keep their mystical moments close to the heart. They roll and ripple with all the fierce pooling magic of the originals, but adding in expanded sections and fancy guitars. Its far from a noodling fest though, as everyone keeps to the script more or less and only embellish the parts that make sense. There's no crazy tangents that make you scratch your head and wonder what brought on such straying nonsense in the first place. Any extra bits are tactful and professionally handled.
There is a lowering of the female presence in
"The Haunting" but it doesn't detract from the soul searching softness that is captured here. The crowd noises have also been dampened quite a bit, for better or for worse depending on who is listening to the album. An excitable and over eager crowd can actually get in the way of the music sometimes, so scaling back the volume there actually enhances the disc in some ways. Having them screaming or clapping over crucial areas of the songs would be a detriment in the end. They can clearly be heard, but not so much that it overrides and drowns out the music on hand. Others prefer the audience participation to be cranked to eleven to make them "feel" as if they are a part of the experience, and those folks will likely be disappointed at the mixing choices made for this CD. Its an effective, but subtle mixing.
All in all this is a fantastic live album that spans across two CDs. It has also been documented as a DVD set, undoubtedly the preferred format for this release since you (obviously) get both audio and visuals to immerse yourself in. The DVD has been enhanced for 5.1 dolby digital surround, is presented in the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and includes a second DVD full of bonus material. Not to mention the added bonus of being able to actually see the musicians performing on stage.
If you could only have one of these packages, then the DVD is definitely the way to go. However,
Kamelot's
"One Cold Winter's Night" is worth a look either way, for the fabulous performances and the little changes and tweaks in the filigree of each track.
Kamelot is a powerhouse band, and showing their talents live and in the raw is a glorious journey to behold even with the audio only presentation of the CD. One of the better live packages to be released in the past few years.
Written by
Alanna Monday, January 15, 2007
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