Band:	Kamelot
Album:	Silverthorn
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	October 26, 2012
Guest review by:	RhaegarTargaryen

Disc I
01. Manus Dei
02. Sacrimony (Angel Of Afterlife)
03. Ashes To Ashes
04. Torn
05. Song For Jolee
06. Veritas
07. My Confession
08. Silverthorn
09. Falling Like The Fahrenheit
10. Solitaire
11. Prodigal Son
    1 - Part I: Funerale
    2 - Part II: Burden Of Shame (The Branding)
    3 - Part III: The Journey
12. Continuum
13. Leaving Too Soon [Japanese bonus]

Disc II [box set edition bonus] [instrumental version]
01. Manus Dei
02. Sacrimony (Angel Of Afterlife)
03. Kismet
04. Ashes To Ashes
05. Torn
06. Song For Jolee
07. Veritas
08. My Confession
09. Silverthorn
10. Falling Like The Fahrenheit
11. Solitaire
12. Prodigal Son
    1 - Part I: Funerale
    2 - Part II: Burden Of Shame (The Branding)
    3 - Part III: The Journey
13. Continuum
14. Grace [bonus] [feat. Apollo Papathanasio & Niklas Engelin]

"There's a pain within, that I can't define. There's an empty space, where your love used to shine" So, Roy has left, and there is one big hole left in each and every one of us. Well, at least he is alive, thankfully unlike in the lyrics above. Yet, every true Kamelotian feels the same. At least there wasn't some mass hysteria like Nightwish's 2005 case.

As much as one hates to admit that in the last few years Roy's voice did lose some of its range and power, he still remains my #1 metal vocalist. Also having the honor to see his last show with Kamelot fills me with additional nostalgia since it was an awesome show. Be that as it may, Roy Sætre "Khan" Khantatat left, and Kamelot had to fill in pretty big shoes, or call it quits. Luckily they decided they still have a lot to offer, and found a replacement. And what a replacement it is. Tommy Karevik has so many similarities with Roy that fans even started to complain about it. Metalheads who are into power / progressive metal and who like to dig deep into the unknown are familiar with the voice of Tommy Karevik. If you haven't heard Tommy yet, I will just tell you that at one moment, while listening to Silverthorn I thought for a second "God, how Roy has a perfect voice" only to realize it is a new album and it is Karevik who is singing. Well, I certainly won't complain about him being similar to Roy. No offense but he is much better choice for Kamelot than Fabio Leone could ever be.

When it comes to music this is another classical Kamelot album. Power metal hymns, mid tempo songs with dark overtures, heart breaking powerful ballads, and of course female guest vocals. Last few years it has been Elize Ryd from Amaranthe, and we have another nice surprise, Alissa from The Agonist. When it comes to music, I think this is a step backwards, but in a good way. I am not one of those who thinks that "Poetry for the Poisoned" is a bad album (or maybe I am too much of a Kamelot fan boy) but I feel that Silverthorn is a logical development from "Ghost Opera". It's like the band decided to backtrack a bit towards "Ghost Opera", and then continue from there down on another path. Which I must say was certainly the best possible decision they could take, given how this album sounds. Silverthorn is another concept album, this time it deals with such themes as loss of a loved ones, and devastating influence which such things can have on family. I won't go much into details, discover it yourself.

So apart from the change of lead vocalist, there's not much really here that has changed. All the ingredients of Kamelot are present, mixed with a fine balance. As said it is less dark than the previous one and a bit more melodic, but we're talking about shades of grey here really (at least there aren't 50 of it). Youngblood proves again both his writing and guitar playing skills are for some reason still underrated. Casey is a driving force, and can sound like merciless machine, when and if needed. Palotai is there to complete the full circle, keyboards are always present. They are finely balanced so that they don't fade from the song, neither sound too imposing. As it goes with bands that like flirting with symphonic sound, choirs and orchestrations are surely to be found in abundance, but they are balanced very well so that they don't swallow the songs and drown the sound without any necessity.

So what are the flaws of this one, if we skip the part about Roy missing? Well, I wouldn't call it perfect, if such thing even exists, but probably the biggest problem is that everyone will compare it with "Epica", "Karma" or "The Black Halo" which are still band's best works. But there aren't any great flaws either; the album is fluent and homogeneous, melodic, some songs are very catchy, and few of them are destined to become must haves on any Kamelot setlist. Karevik delivers in every aspect, and this record proves why Kamelot proudly sit at the pinnacle of power/progressive" metal.