SIÉGE PERILOUS

My 3rd studio album with Kamelot. Again Good, but non-essential . They have a little more power than prog but is very ok. 3 tracks are absolutly stunning in my opinion, instrumental one named Siege, Rhydin and Once in a dream. Great band, they have a simple/complex music, not for the average listner but neither for the classic listners in prog music.3,5 stars for this one.

I really think that this album has a fantastic atmosphere... You feel the medieval atmosphere, chivalry times etc... Kamelot begins to change their medieval-atmosphered style, to a more gothic, darker style beginning with Karma, and later Epica, finally The Black Halo...

I love all their stuff, and medieval Kamelot is also worth checking out. Sometimes simplicity or rawness creates a unique atmosphere, which i deeply feel in this album. 4 stars...

This is the first Kamelot album that features Roy Khan on vocal and Casey Grillo on drum. While it’s not as good as any of what they would have accomplished later (starting from ‘The Fourth Legacy and so on), it’s not really a bad effort at all. You can consider this as a new starting point of what they’ve become nowadays.

As for the tracks:

‘Providence’ actually is a quite good opening track for this album. This song has a rather slow tempo, and while it’s not a ballad song, it’s not too metal either. ‘Millennium’ has a nice opening piano melody, and the band start to kick out some speedy riffs and drumming here. ‘King’s Eyes’ has a bit slower tempo, and this is probably among the proggiest track in this album, though it’s not really a proggy track at all. There’s a nice short acoustic break in the middle part of the song.

‘Expedition’ starts off with some rather speedy riffs, but only in the beginning. The overall tempo of this song isn’t that fast at all. In the middle of the song, you’ll hear some good guitar solos. ‘Where I Reign’ has a quite nice opening melody by some kind of woodwind instrument. Another track with medium tempo which has some good guitar solos. The melody of this song, among with the vocal make it sounds like a sad, depressing song.

I’m not going to go through the details of the rest of tracks here, since most of them have some similarities in their atmosphere and sounds. Not that all the tracks here sounds exactly the same, they have their own moments like the guitar solos in ‘Rhydin’, the keyboard sounds in of ‘Parting Visions’, or the ballad song ‘Once in a Dream’, etc. However the overall sounds is a bit generic. This album closing track, ‘Siege’, is an instrumental track, something that they haven’t done before. This track is probably the highlight of the album! It has some great solos, nice acoustic parts, and some others. It’s a bit short though, and I think it would be nice if this track could go on a bit longer.

The tracks here aren’t bad at all, but nothing really stands out either. This album is mostly, if not all, consists of only mediocre tracks. Roy Khan’s vocal here is far from his best, which would improve a lot in their next albums. The sound quality of this album doesn’t help either. While it’s not a really horrible production, it still categorized as an awful one and thus become another downfall of the album.

Overall, this isn’t a bad album at all like I’ve pointed out above. This album isn’t really sounds like a plain power metal album; in fact, there aren’t many speedy tracks here, most of them have a medium tempo. This album sounds more like a symphonic metal album, though it’s not really prog at all. Obviously, if you’re new to Kamelot’s sounds, you’d like to avoid this album and get their latest works first. You can get this album after you already familiar with their discography and curious about how’s their earlier works sound like. I'd give this album 5 out of 10 or two and a half stars.

This was an important step for Kamelot. It wasthe band´s first album to feature Roy Khan on vocals and Casey Grillo on drums. It was an awkward move at the time, since it was an american group recruiting a singer from Norway and recording in Germany. Khan (ex Conception), with a great voice and stage persona, was a more than what Kamelot needed to conquer their very own sound.

However, Siége Perilous would not be their big greak. There are a number of reasons, but the main problem here is the production. The album was recorded before the band joined forces with future producers/arrangers Sasha Paeth and Miro. The sound is way below what their sophisticated power metal demands for. As a result Roy Khan´s voice is too much in the background and the symphonic parts are somewhat lost in the mix. And that is a real pity because Siége Perilous has no weak songs and tracks like King Eyes, Rhydin, Irea and Where I Reign are some of Kamelot´s best stuff since they started. Roy Khan´s contribution as a songwriter is minimal since when he joined the band most of the tunes were already completed.

Fortunatly, all the problems would be solved by the time they recorde The Fourth Legacy, their really entry into the big time.

All in all Siége Perilous is a very good album. With all its faults it contains strong material and shows the enormous potential the band had and would eventually fullfiled. With a better production the band would not have to wait until their fourth release to do so. 3,5 stars.

Rhapsodies

On to their third album in as many years, and Kamelot have undergone their first major line up changes. Out go original lead vocalist Mark Vanderbilt and drummer Richard Warner, to be replaced by Roy Kahn (from Conception) and Casey Grillo respectively. This however was more than simply a case of a couple of substitutions being made, as "Siege Perilous" also represents a significant change for the band in musical terms.

The prevailing view among fans is that while Vanderbilt was a capable singer, his style was not well suited to Kamelot. Personally, I do not subscribe to that line, for me the first two albums were well made and highly enjoyable. Indeed, from the evidence of the opening "Providence", Vanderbilt's voice is arguably the more powerful.

We should however not be too quick to judge as the vocals are well back in the mix here. The track is a slow, powerful piece with choral keyboards and melodic lead guitar. The first we hear of the familiar double paced drumming is on "Millennium", where Khan's vocals become more defined. His style is similar to that of Ronnie James Dio, the melody being of the type which Rainbow would be proud.

It is though tracks such as "King's eyes" which point towards the future. The structure here is more considered than most of the song's peers to date, the soft acoustic core contrasting tastefully with the melodic rock of the main sections. While there is no apparent concept as such, the track themes are often related to Lord of the rings type mythology, a topic Rhapsody would later exploit in a similar style of music. "Where I reign" for example could easily have been covered by Rhapsody, and would have fitted in on their albums very well. This is actually one of the more striking songs, moving from a gentle flute sound at the start through some fine lead guitar with dramatic backing and building to a powerful conclusion.

"Parting visions" may be the shortest track on the album, and indeed the most accessible, but it is quite irresistible, the synth runs and lead guitar combining with a striking melody. It is immediately followed by an uncharacteristically melancholy song "Once a dream", another song with strong commercial potential. As with "Creation" from the previous album, the instrumental "Siege" offers the band members the opportunity to show off their dexterity, the track hopping remorselessly from theme to theme and sound to sound.

As with previous albums, there is no feature track here as such, each song running to between 4 and 6 minutes. While several feature arrangements which go beyond being single paced melodic rock numbers, none stretches the band. This is though a competently crafted album which links the past to the future in terms of the band's development.

I like to see Siege as a very good album. It's almost 4 stars, but actually it has some bad efforts. The style has changed, it can be a different band. One of the best is the instrumental Siege, with some classical quotes, as I realized. The first guitar line is from Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony. King's Eyes, Where I Reign and Rhydin are among the best, because of the variety, and there are piano melodies in the instrumental breaks. The slow, lyrical part of Kings Eyes is almost like Nights of Arabia. So, it's the forerunner of Fourth Legacy. There are parts that are too poppy and these are Parting Visions, Once a Dream and Irea, though the latter has a good middle part. I like the strings intro of Providence, and the rolling Millenium, though the vocals are not as good. Fourth Legacy had a great success but this is just as good, except the sound and there are less orchestral arrangements. But a good start for the new band.

The third legacy

For their third album, Kamelot recruited Roy Khan who immediately become the voice of the band. On Siege Perilous all the trademarks of the band were finally firmly in place. A great mixture of Symphonic Power Metal, Neo-Classical Metal, and progressive flourishes, with strong melodies and powerful vocals. Still, it would not be until the next album, the excellent The Fourth Legacy, that they would have their breakthrough. In my opinion they would also reach their peak with The Fourth Legacy, which remains my favourite Kamelot album. But the present album is my second favourite of the band and a great album in its own right and certainly pointing in the right direction.

The material is strong throughout, even if not quite as memorable as the The Fourth Legacy material. The progressive side of the band is certainly present, but admittedly not very strongly. The instrumental closer Siege is probably the most adventurous track here. The track called Expedition later gave its name to the band's first live album which featured live versions of this and another track from Siege Perilous, Millennium.

I find this album to be underrated and to be among Kamelot's very best albums, and unlike many I actually prefer Siege Perilous to most of Kamelot's later albums. This is highly recommended in addition to the band's masterpiece, The Fourth Legacy.

With Kamelot's third studio album comes a major turning point in the bands history for two reasons. Number one being that with 'Siege Perilous', keyboards started to play a more pivotal role in the music, as opposed to previous releases where it was used sparingly in the background. And number two, of course, is the addition of former Conception frontman Roy Khan, a man who's distinct voice would go on to give Kamelot the identity they needed in order to stand out from the other power metal bands.

Unfortunately, these changes didn't instantly bring huge success upon the band, and while this is a good effort, it tends to feel more like a transitional period for the band as they begin to truly develop their own style.

Of course, that doesn't make this a bad album. Although there are a few rather forgettable tracks here, there are others that ooze of Kamelot's medieval-inspired charm. Songs like 'Providence', 'Parting Visions' and 'Irea' are all up there as some of the bands most memorable moments.

The addition of Khan and more prominent keyboards have laid down a path for where the band are headed in the future, but this still remains as nothing more than a good album. The symphonic elements are starting to materialize, though they're simplistic compared to future releases. Still, 'Siege Perilous' is a step in the right direction for Kamelot.