America's favorite sobering prog power outfit, KAMELOT firmly established themselves among the metal elite two years ago with their breakthrough album "The Black Halo", a grandiose affair that felt closer to DIMMU BORGIR than HELLOWEEN. Two years later, they've struck up the orchestra one more time with "Ghost Opera", replacing much of the epic flavor of their previous album with a more contemporary one. The end result is a highly polished and modern effort that could very well divide the metal community in half.

One of the first things KAMELOT fans are going to notice is the increased down-tuning (a trend that's so cliché that it's almost not worth mentioning anymore), but the biggest improvement this time around is the fact that they got rid of all the damn annoying interludes. Plus, there are far less "special guests" clogging everything up - meaning that the focus is on the songs themselves. And speaking of songs, there's considerable song variety to be had, from the moderate tempos ("Rule the World", "Mourning Star") to speedy power metal (the title track, "Silence of the Darkness", "Eden Echo") to the sappy love ballads ("Love You to Death", "Blucher" and "Anthem"). Thankfully, there's still that little splash of evil in "Up through the Ashes" to counteract some of the wussiness

Beyond that, the signature sound of KAMELOT remains unchanged. The orchestra is generally present throughout the entire album, and Thomas Youngblood's riffs (when they're not being drowned out) are spot-on. Vocalist (and token Norwegian) Khan is a bit of an acquired taste, though: while his clean, controlled midrange vocals fit the band's style through both their rockers and ballads, there's always the feeling that he's constantly building up to something bigger. Perhaps we've been spoiled by the Tarja Turunens and Messiah Marcolins of the world?

Bottom line: those that like their metal rough and stripped down aren't going to get into this one at all, but for those who dig the high production value of the past few DIMMU albums and aren't ashamed to blast stuff like SONATA ARCTICA and NIGHTWISH in their cars with the windows down, "Ghost Opera" is the perfect album to haunt the ol' playlist.

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/kamelot

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