Twenty years since releasing their first record, symphonic metal icons Kamelot are back with Haven, their 11th studio album and second featuring Swedish frontman Tommy Karevik. Infused with post-apocalyptic sentiment and cinematic ambiance, Haven is classic Kamelot, showcasing powerful melodies and the haunting and beautiful lyrics the band are renowned for. Founder and guitarist Thomas Youngblood spoke to Maria Nayef about the inspiration behind Haven, how the band has changed since the addition of Karevik, and their plans to return to Australia.
Thomas congratulations on Haven, I loved it from the first instant. How did you feel when you heard the album for the first time?
Thank you, that’s good to hear! It felt great. I had a feeling during part of the production that we had something special. Once we had the final mix and we were able to listen to it, we were definitely happy.
The press release for Haven said the record is filled with symbolism reflecting how Kamelot feels about the current state of civilization. Can you elaborate on that a little?
The album was sparked by this post-apocalypse kind of thing, it was something I was kind of kicking on, in terms of movies. Also, thinking about our society now and the way that technology is taking over a lot of things. You see it everyday, especially in the US, where people are looking into their cell phones constantly, becoming more and more antisocial. So we were thinking of those elements, of where we’re going in terms of our culture. I’ve been a big fan of post-apocalypse movies from when I was a little kid, so to blend a little bit of those elements into the Haven record, and to have an album that’s not based on the 17th century, but based more on the present and future, was also something that was intriguing for me.
Each song on Haven begins differently and has its own vibe. It’s quite intriguing to listen to…
Yeah, what we were actually going for on this album was to make it as diverse as possible, and we were able to make an album that is our most diverse ever. One of the cool things with Haven is that mixture of the dark melancholy with really melodic choruses and very melodic guitar parts. Sometimes, if songs become a little too catchy, it can of go a little bit on the cheesy side, but we were able to make dark melodic melodies that are still memorable.
My favourite track is Insomnia, it’s very catchy and has a great vibe.
It’s actually one of my favourite songs at the moment on the record, along with Revolution and Liar Liar, but the cool thing is I’ve spoken with a lot of journalists and nine times out of ten, everyone has a different favourite song, which is something that I’ve never experienced with any of our records before.
What has been Tommy’s contribution to Haven besides vocals?
He wrote most of the lyrics and the vocal melodies, so you can imagine the volume of work that he’s had to put into the album. I think he did an amazing job. I mean, what he did with Silverthorn… we just bumped everything up to a whole other level. The lyrics on this record are some of my favourites from Kamelot. They’re really deep, metaphoric and mysterious.
Yes, there’s one particular lyric in “Liar Liar” that I particularly like: “the yearning of an undiscovered soul.” I thought that was quite beautiful…
Yeah. That’s great. There are so many nice, unique vocal lines on the record. So many cool things that could be on the back of a t-shirt!
I really love the guitar parts on this record. Is writing and playing solos something you particularly enjoy?
I think there is some extra soloing on this record compared to previous ones; we wanted to go for more of a guitar-heavy mix with Haven, and I think we were able to do that without losing too much of the symphonic elements that we’re known for. Usually, 90% of the time, the guitar solos are all ad-lib in the studio, but when it comes to the tour and playing live, it’s obviously a lot of fun. I’m kind of an introvert in a way, I’m not big on showing off (laughs), but that’s just an aspect of my personality.
There are some special guests on this album which are just awesome, with Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Troy Donockley (Nightwish) and Charlotte Wessels (Delain). Bit of a bonus!
Nah, not really (laughs). Yeah, it’s really cool as these are folks we’ve toured with. And really all these things came up last minute, within the last two months before the album was finished. That was when we had these ideas to bring in Troy, then Alissa then Charlotte. All of these special guests are really talented and unique, and luckily for us, they’re good friends of ours.
How was the vibe in the band when you came together to write this record? It must have been very different to when you were writing Silverthorn. I mean, you didn’t even have a vocalist then.
It was obviously different – knowing who was singing, having the record deal pretty much secured – all those things definitely give you a little bit of security. I think with Silverthorn we had a bit of pressure to prove oursleves, after all those years, in a weird way. We wanted to create a record and not think about the past at all, and I think with Haven, we were able to do that.
How did Silverthorn impact Kamelot? You’re more popular than ever…
By bringing in Tommy the idea was not just to replace somebody, but to make a change because we had to, and one that would enable the band to grow. And we actually got some new fans, so to see it work out to a certain extent was a huge relief.
Well Tommy certainly seems to be coping well with all the pressure. Obviously he is very talented and he can handle it.
And he’s super humble, and the fans can see that on stage. He’s not a demanding kind of dude, he’s really one of the guys, and he meets the fans after the shows; those kind of things we weren’t getting. He’s more engaging with the audience too, and when you see the band on stage you definitely see a unified kind of thing going on. We couldn’t be happier with the choices we’ve made and the steps we’ve taken so far. And we’re totally looking forward to the next tour cycle. Let’s cross our fingers we get back to Australia.
Yes! You toured Australia for the first time in 2013, what are your fondest memories from that tour? And any plans in the works to return?
We totally loved it, we were pretty floored by the response by the fans actually. We got to do some of those VIP meet and greets, and the queue for that was just amazing. I’ve gotten some offers to come back, and I’m trying to work it out so we can have a day or two extra to see more of the country and hang out a little bit. We’re looking at 2016, so we want the fans to keep screaming loud and proud for us to come back, like they did before, and we’ll definitely make it happen.
It was great talking to you as usual Thomas, and we look forward to seeing Kamelot back in Australia soon!
Thank you, appreciate it, and yes, get the Kamelot army together and tell them to do whatever we gotta do for us to get back down there.
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Haven is out in Australian on May 8 and available to pre-order.
Check out the following links to access Kamelot’s music.
http://www.nervegas.com.au/kamelot-haven-cd
http://www.nervegas.com.au/kamelot-haven-deluxe-2cd-mediabook-edition-2cd
http://www.nervegas.com.au/kamelot-haven-vinyl-lp
You can also check out the band’s new music video below…
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