Karma is the fifth album of my favorite symphonic metal band, Kamelot, and the third to feature brilliant vocalist Roy Khan. It is the perfect merger of symphony with power metal.
Thomas Youngblood, the band's guitarist, crafts perfect melodies on each and every track and varies his playing style throughout the album. At times he plays fast-paced power metal-style riffs like on "Wings of Despair" and "Forever". The guitar solo on "Across the Highlands" emphasizes this, showing the power metal influence of the band. Youngblood also shows he is capable of excellently playing soft acoustic melodies on "Don't You Cry" and its French language version "Ne Pleeure Pas" as well as on "Temples of God".
The band certainly has no problem in composing a diverse array of songs and you will find absolutely no filler or bad songs on "Karma". The guitars also possess a great deal of harmony like you'd expect from a church choir, an example of which is during the guitar solo on "The Spell" that is backed up by keyboards.
The keyboards are one of two factors that greatly enhance the harmony of the album. The song "Elizabeth: I. Mirror Mirror" opens with a beautiful keyboard melody and the keyboards on "The Light I Shine on You" are absolutely beautiful. The keyboards also influence the sound by adding a slightly medieval, Lord of the Rings-type feel to the music. The only flaw I have with the use of the keyboards is that, for the most part, they're in the background. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with this, but on a symphonic metal album I enjoy hearing more of the keyboards.
The second factor is Roy Kahn. His voice is just so perfect I can't really find anything bad to say about it. He has an excellent range and shows this off on "Karma". At certain times, like on the title track, his voice becomes deep and dark and takes an inquisitive and somewhat tragic sounding tone. It's as if he truly is the king mentioned in the song, contemplating his legacy and the future of his kingdom. A similar effect is used on the three "Elizabeth" songs. Kahn's style of singing changes with each track, mirroring the historical "Blood" Countess's descent into madness.
On other tracks like "Wings of Despair" he sings as if nothing in the world can bring him down and as if he can overcome any obstacle that stands in his path. On "Forever", he is essentially pouring out his heart to a loved one. Roy Kahn seems to possess the ability to alter the entire feel or mood of the song simply by the power of voice. Basically "Karma" is an opera and Roy is the actor that portrays each and every one of the characters and is, in my opinion, or rather was, the heart and soul of Kamelot since first joining the band.
"Karma", although not perfect, is a superb album and a masterpiece of symphonic metal.
](torrents/images/300350.jpg)