Kamelot

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Kamelot
Kamelot playing in Barcelona.
Background information
Origin	Tampa, Florida, United States
Genres	Power metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal
Years active	Since 1991
Labels	Steamhammer, SPV
Associated acts	Epica, Conception, Sons of Seasons
Website	kamelot.com
Members
Roy Khan Thomas Youngblood Glenn Barry Casey Grillo Oliver Palotai
Former members
Mark Vanderbilt Richard Warner David Pavlicko Sean Christians

Kamelot is an American metal band from Tampa, Florida. The band was formed by Thomas Youngblood and Richard Warner in 1991. Norwegian vocalist Roy Khan joined for the album Siége Perilous, and has shared song-writing duties with Thomas Youngblood since.

As of 2009, Kamelot has released eight studio albums, three live albums, one live DVD, six music videos and a reissue of their latest record Ghost Opera.

Biography

Kamelot was founded in Florida by Thomas Youngblood and Richard Warner in 1991. In 1994, the band signed a deal with Noise Records; the release of their debut album Eternity followed in 1995. The next album, Dominion, was released in 1997. Later that year, drummer and founder Richard Warner and lead vocalist Mark Vanderbilt were replaced by drummer Casey Grillo and vocalist Roy Khan (formerly of Conception) respectively. With the two new members, Kamelot released their third studio album, Siege Perilous, in 1998. The new line-up undertook an extensive tour through Europe during the fall of the same year; twelve months later, they returned to the Gate Studio in Wolfsburg to produce the fourth studio effort, The Fourth Legacy.

The summer of 2000 brought the "New Allegiance Tour" through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece and Spain during which the recordings for Kamelot's first live album The Expedition were made. A few months later, the band presented their fifth album Karma. Their sixth album, Epica, was released in 2003. To support the Epica album, the band went on tour through Europe (with At Vance as a supporting band) and Japan. Both "Epica" and the band's seventh effort, The Black Halo, which was released in 2005, are based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's version of the legend of Faust, a man who sells his soul to the devil. To support the new album, the band went on tour through Europe and Japan. During the first leg of the "Black Halo World Tour 2005", they played a headliner show with Epica and Kotipelto. In Japan the support was Silent Force. They also played on the Bang Your Head!!! Festival in Germany and the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium.

In 2005, they shot their first music videos for the songs "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)" and "March of Mephisto" from the album The Black Halo. Both videos were shot by the prolific director Patric Ullaeus. On October 5, 2005, Kamelot added Oliver Palotai as the fifth official band member; Oliver handles both keyboards and (additional) guitars.

On the second leg of the "Black Halo World Tour", they visited North and South America (USA, Canada, Brazil) as well as Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Norway). On February 11, 2006, the band's live DVD, One Cold Winter's Night was shot by Patric Ullaeus at Rockefeller Music Hall in Oslo, Norway. It was released on November 17, 2006 in Germany, November 20 in other parts of Europe and November 21 in US/Canada via SPV Records.

In fall 2006, the band returned to Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany to record their latest album, Ghost Opera. Drummer Casey Grillo flew in to record in Wolfsburg for the first time since the Karma album and the band recruited session keys player Tyson McCormick from the American Epic Hardcore band End of Empires to fill in on writing duties due to the absence of Oliver Palotai, who opted to be with his family for the birth of his 2nd child.

Ghost Opera was released on June 1, 2007 in Germany, June 4 in Europe and June 5 in the US. The album was recorded and mixed at Gate Studios and Pathway Studios in Wolfsburg with producers Sascha Paeth and Miro. Music videos have been made for the songs "Ghost Opera", "The Human Stain", "Rule the World" and "Love You to Death". A re-issue of Ghost Opera labeled, "Ghost Opera: the Second Coming" was released shortly after its predecessor. It contains the entire original Ghost Opera album and a second CD with 10 live songs recorded during concert in Belgrade, Serbia, with additional bonus tracks, "Season's End", "The Pendulous Fall", "Epilogue" and "Rule the World (Remixed)".

In January, 2009, Kamelot started working on their ninth studio album in a cabin in Norway. They frequently update their official video blog with clips.^[1]

In May 2009, Kamelot released their fourth video for "Love You To Death" at Midnight on their official website.

They are currently recording their next studio album, and it's said to be heavier than the former material.^[2]

Line-up

Current members

• Roy Khan: Lead vocals (1998−present)
• Thomas Youngblood: Guitars, Backing vocals (1991−present)
• Glenn Barry: Bass guitar (1992−present)
• Casey Grillo: Drums (1997−present)
• Oliver Palotai: Keyboards (2005−present)

Former members

• Mark Vanderbilt: vocals (1991−1997)
• Richard Warner: drums (1991−1997)
• David Pavlicko: keyboards (1991−1998)
• Sean Christians: bass (1991−1992)
• Miro − studio keyboards (1998-2007)

Guest musicians

• Günter Werno − keyboards (on The Expedition)
• Luca Turilli − solo guitar on "Descent of the Archangel" (Epica)
• Simone Simons − guest vocals and video appearance on "The Haunting" (The Black Halo), guest vocals on "Blücher" and "Season's End" (Ghost Opera)
• Shagrath − As Mephisto: vocals, video appearance on "March of Mephisto" (The Black Halo); vocals on "Memento Mori" (The Black Halo)
• Snowy Shaw − As Mephisto: vocals on "March of Mephisto" (One Cold Winter's Night)
• Jens Johansson − keyboard solos on "March of Mephisto" and "When the Lights are Down" (The Black Halo)
• Mari Youngblood − As Helena: vocals, appearance on (Epica), "Abandoned" and "Memento Mori" (The Black Halo), video appearance in "The Haunting" (The Black Halo) and various tracks of the One Cold Winter's Night concert of 2006.
• Elisabeth Kjærnes − video appearance on "March of Mephisto" (The Black Halo and One Cold Winter's Night) and "The Haunting" (The Black Halo), vocals in "Nights of Arabia" (The Fourth Legacy and One Cold Winter's Night)
• Matt Knowles (Royal Anguish) − As Mephisto when playing in Florida
• Sascha Paeth − guest appearance on One Cold Winter's Night as additional guitarist on "Moonlight", and Ghost Opera
• Amanda Somerville − guest vocalist for "Mourning Star", "Love You to Death" and "Ghost Opera"
• Anne-Catrin Marzke - live female and backing vocals
• Sebastian Bilodeau - Saxophone on "March of Mephisto"
• Sean Christians - live bass during the 2006-2009 tours
• Dirk Bruinenberg − guest drummer on "The Silent Goddess" and "Alexandria" (The Fourth Legacy)

Discography

Studio albums

• Eternity (1995)
• Dominion (1997)
• Siége Perilous (1998)
• The Fourth Legacy (1999)
• Karma (2001)
• Epica (2003)
• The Black Halo (2005)
• Ghost Opera (2007)
• TBA'^[3] (2010)

Reissues

• Ghost Opera - The Second Coming (2008)

Live albums

• The Expedition (2000)
• One Cold Winter's Night (2006)

Live DVDs

• One Cold Winter's Night (2006)

Music Videos

• "The Haunting" (featuring Simone Simons) (2005)
• "March of Mephisto" (featuring Shagrath & Jens Johansson) (2005)
• "Ghost Opera" (2007)
• "The Human Stain" (2007)
• "Rule the World" (2008)
• "Love You to Death" (2009)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kamelot

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kamelot

• Official website
• Kamelot at MySpace
• Kamelot channel at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)