KAMELOT, οne of the most important power metal bands of all time is coming to Greece for one show in Athens on May 7th.
Thomas Youngblood, guitarist and main composer of the band answers our questions on their comeback with their recent release entitled "The Awakening" as well as the bands future plans.
Read below our short chat.
RockOverdose: "The Awakening" marks the longest time gap between two studio albums in your discography. Why did you choose to refrain from studio album releases?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): We released a live album in 2020 and hoped to release a new album by 2022. But a once in a lifetime pandemic changed everything. Which gave us more time to focus on the album, once touring resumed we knew if made sense to release a new album.
RockOverdose: Why did you name your latest album, "The Awakening"? Is there a chance of it being related to your five-year absence?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): The Awakening is related to realizing what we all missed with our busy lives, the simple things in life. We the lockdowns, we were forced to go back to basics and that was a great awakening for us.
RockOverdose: Could you describe the writing process of the new album to us?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): Similar to the previous but this one Tommy wrote much more of the music than in the past. We all worked very hard on the songs and we are happy.
RockOverdose: What do you think "The Awakening" did better than your previous albums, especially compared to "The Shadow Theory"?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): Not sure what you mean did better? All the albums are special to me, so I don’t compare them like the press.
Photo: moni_moose
RockOverdose: Do you think that with your new album you opened a new creative space that you opt to explore more in future releases?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): We always try to open new doors and I think in The Awakening we actually did this with some of the songs.
RockOverdose: It's quite apparent that "The Awakening" has a more emotional and symphonic-oriented sound than your most recent releases. What was the artistic vision behind this direction?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): We wanted to make a best of Kamelot eras. So we fused new, old and all Kamelot DNA into this one.
RockOverdose: It seems like your new album is heavily influenced by "Ghost Opera". Is that assumption true? Aside from that, what inspired you while creating your new album?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): Just Opus of the Night, the rest is not related to Ghost Opera at all.
RockOverdose: Are "The Awakening"'s lyrical themes exploring a certain subject and are they connected to any of your previous works?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): We touch on all aspects of life, love, loss, reflection on what is important.
RockOverdose: Do you have any piece that's special for you and you separate apart from the rest of the tracklist?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): NightSky is one that stands out for me, the lyrics and feel.
RockOverdose: Would you ever be interested in having a tour being accompanied by a symphonic orchestra? Why or why not?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): Yes we are discussing this now with the Prague Symphony! Its going to be epic!!
RockOverdose: You have planned a show in Athens, Greece for May 7th. Do you have any plans on visiting Northern Greece?
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): We go where the demand is best, if there is demand in other regions we will be there!!
Photo: John Metalman Photography
RockOverdose: Please leave a message for Greek fans.
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT): See you at the show in Athens, lets have a night to remember!
For Rock Overdose:
Interview: Katerina Mitika
Translation: Pavlos Giannakopoulos
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