🎶 Kamelot
🌎Florida, U.S.A.
📀Dark Asylum
® Napalm Records
📅 28/08/2026
One of the most consistent and recognizable forces in symphonic and power metal returns with the 14th album of its prolific career. KAMELOT present “Dark Asylum”, a concept album that takes us to Ravenhill, an asylum that began its history as a cathedral before eventually becoming the prison of a trapped soul.
“Dark Asylum” does not stray significantly from KAMELOT’s distinctive and much-loved sound. The band remains faithful to its familiar formula, while enriching it with progressive and folk touches that add different shades to the album’s narrative.
As we have come to expect from them, the album opens with the short orchestral intro “Sanctorium”, which introduces us in epic fashion to the dark world of Ravenhill. The following “Ashen World” leaves no doubt that this is going to be another quintessential KAMELOT album. Cinematic, highly epic and dynamic, it features that characteristic riff that has been one of the band’s trademarks for years. This is also where we encounter the first collaboration with Ignacia Fernandez, vocalist of DECESSUS and Miss Chile 2026, who, fortunately for us, handles the microphone just as well as she handles the runway.
“Dark Asylum” follows as one of the album’s strongest moments, featuring a groovy and highly catchy chorus, an excellent performance by Tommy Karevik, and constant shifts in rhythm and intensity. “Sanctuary” brings the first part of the album to an impressive conclusion, perhaps delivering its finest moment through the collaboration between Karevik, Fernandez and Clémentine Delauney (VISIONS OF ATLANTIS). Karevik’s powerful vocals blend perfectly with Delauney’s ethereal delivery and Fernandez’s growls, while the composition itself stands out for its musical diversity and constant changes.
The chants of “Nocte Veritas” serve as a bridge to “One Last Masquerade”, where KAMELOT join forces with Tobias Sammet of AVANTASIA in a song that could easily have found its way onto an album by the German power metal band. Next comes the first ballad, “Ivy, My Dear”, a classic, fairytale-like ballad with folk elements that gives Karevik another opportunity to demonstrate his vocal abilities.
On “Godlike Alchemy”, he successfully pushes his voice into its higher registers, delivering one of the album’s most demanding vocal performances. “The Sleeping Mind (Orphic Paradigm)” brings us back to KAMELOT’s epic side, featuring Alex Landenburg’s relentless drumming and a galloping rhythm that adds intensity and dynamism.
The next two tracks arguably represent the weakest moments of “Dark Asylum”. “Kaleidoscope” maintains the album’s epic character, while “Enigma” slows things down once again with its power-ballad approach. What stands out in both songs, however, are some particularly characteristic guitar solos.
With “Cassandra’s Disease”, KAMELOT reveal a darker and more melancholic side of their music, with the piano taking center stage. On the other hand, I would describe “Beneath The Moon” as the song you never knew you needed on an album like this. KAMELOT step into the background and give the spotlight to Rannveig Sif Sigurðardóttir and Sólveig Sara Leupold, who, accompanied by the violin of Lea Sophie Fischer of ELUVEITIE, transport us into the world of a frozen Norwegian fairytale. At first glance, it may seem somewhat out of place within the overall context of “Dark Asylum”, yet the result is so beautiful and atmospheric that the choice ultimately proves completely worthwhile.
The album concludes with “The Puppet King”, another dark and epic track that bears the unmistakable KAMELOT signature, while the orchestral “Sanctum Requiem” serves as the perfect outro to the story of Ravenhill.
KAMELOT know the recipe for success. They do not try to impress with unnecessary experimentation, yet their albums are never short of moments of surprise. “Dark Asylum” is another high-quality addition to their discography and certainly features three or four songs that have all the makings of becoming staples of the band’s future repertoire.
I’m not sure they have surpassed the freshness of “The Awakening” or matched the number of immediate hits found on “The Shadow Theory”, but they are certainly continuing an impressive run of strong albums and proving once again that they remain one of the most reliable bands in the genre.
★ 8/10
✍🏻 Kostas Boudoukos
