The departure of widely revered vocalist Roy Khan back in 2011 could easily have derailed Kamelot forever. The remarkable thing about Silverthorn, then, is how it so effortlessly outstrips Khan’s swansong, the somewhat flawed and wilfully experimental Poetry For The Poisoned.
New singer Tommy Karevik stamps his authority all over this highly extravagant and ambitious concept piece, imbuing every song with a real sense of poignancy and drama via a voice that is, by this genre’s standards at least, unusually soulful and evocative.
Musically, Kamelot have seldom sounded more confident and even a shamelessly glossy production cannot diminish the crunching power of Thomas Youngblood’s riffs or the dense opulence of the arrangements. The finest moments – the brutish Sacrimony (Angel Of The Afterlife), elegiac piano ballad Song For Jolee – are among this band’s best to date.
