KAMELOT Guitarist Can See Next Album 'Testing' Fans And Bandmembers

Australia's Metal As Fuck recently conducted an interview with guitarist Thomas Youngblood of American/German/Swedish symphonic metallers KAMELOT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal As Fuck: What was your original vision for the latest KAMELOT album, "Silverthorn"?

Youngblood: We have a lot of albums, so the main goal was to stay true to our signature sound. Keep to the melodies, the production quality and slamming in a lot of great riffs. We didn't want to jump right in with, like, some radical new instrument or something; we wanted to get back to familiarity for the fans.

Metal As Fuck: So the band has a new vocalist, Tommy Karevik. What has he given to the music of KAMELOT? Has he enhanced the aesthetic and maintained that signature sound that is obviously very important to the band?

Youngblood: He has made an amazing difference to the band, and added a great dimension to our live shows also. Tommy jumped right into the new album with no hesitation. He has this ability to capture the old and new KAMELOT. This is our first album with him and we couldn't be more pleased with the result.

Metal As Fuck: There have been subtle changes to the overall sound of KAMELOT over the past several years. How do you keep it fresh and adapt your signature style to these changes?

Youngblood: I think it's a matter of personal feeling. If we were to write another "Poetry...", we would become super bored. We need to keep it interesting for ourselves and the fans. For instance, the feature of a female growler for one of the songs on the album. If we like it, so should the fans, hopefully.

Metal As Fuck: What challenges were faced with writing this album, if any?

Youngblood: Honestly, it went so smoothly. The new album has a lot of energy and I think that aided the process. Recording "Poetry..." was difficult; I guess it's hard to avoid difficulty when you're writing in the unknown. We used producers we had worked with in the past that were extremely beneficial to the end product. This album just held the right parts.

Metal As Fuck: You mention the unknown — what would be leaving your comfort zone?

Youngblood: Well, I think experimenting is important; fans expect that, you know. We didn't with "Silverthorn" though — not with this record. We wanted the familiarity of KAMELOT to have the foundations for the album. I could see the next album for KAMELOT testing ourselves and fans, though.

Read the entire interview from Metal As Fuck.