While I haven't even been familiar with power-metal band Kamelot for too long, I've been enjoying their latest release The Black Halo for several months now. There's something really refreshing about Kamelot's sound -- the energy and the passion put forth by vocalist Roy Khan (known simply as 'Khan') has always amazed me.

Last month, Kamelot released One Cold Winter's Night, a two-disc DVD featuring an entire live show filmed in Oslo, Norway. In addition to the live show, One Cold Winter's Night contains band member interviews and biographies, music videos, and a photo gallery, among other things. Let's just say a Kamelot fan really gets their money's worth by looking into this DVD.

Disc 1, of course, features the concert. Pop this disc into your DVD player, crank up the volume, and it can often feel like you're actually in Oslo, taking in all the sights and sounds. As the sounds of multilayered guitars of "The Black Halo" fill the air, the members of Kamelot appear on stage, much to the excitement of the enthusiastic Oslo crowd. As the audience jumps up and down, pumping their fists, Kamelot takes total control of the stage. It quickly becomes clear that these guys really know how to deliver extraordinary live shows.

One of my personal favorite performances is "The Edge of Paradise". Khan's interaction with the crowd is outstanding, and his voice is no less powerful live than on record. I love the way this song alternates from solemn chants to an outburst of insanely heavy guitars and blasts of double-bass drumming. Through all of this, Khan's soothing, melodic, yet extremely strong and confident vocal delivery remains the focal point. "Center of the Universe" keeps things at a super-fast tempo, though it's more of a "sing-along" than the songs preceding it. The audience goes nuts for this one.

Another notable moment comes when Kamelot's Oliver Palotai performs a lovely keyboard solo. Sweeping his long hair back and forth, Palotai switches rapidly from slowly playing dark, dramatic notes to playing at a much faster pace. His incredible talent and versatility as a keyboardist gets a chance to shine here. The keyboard solo leads right into "The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)", in which one of my favorite vocalists, Simone Simons of Epica (who happens to be Palotai's girlfriend) does guest vocals. When Simons comes onstage about a minute into the song, the crowd goes insane. Khan and Simons have incredible onstage chemistry, and they sound BEAUTIFUL together. That chorus is to die for.

Best known as the opener to The Black Halo, "March of Mephisto" also is performed excellently. As Kamelot fans will know, Dimmu Borgir vocalist Shagrath does guest vocals in this song; however, he is absent during this performance. The assumed substitute lurks at the top of the stage, towering above the flames that conveniently arise during this hellraiser of a song. "Karma" may be Kamelot's most popular song, and as Khan introduces it by saying, "I'm sure you know it," the heavy guitars and speedy drums kick in, mingling flawlessly with the gentle keyboard melodies. Just watching the audience as they bang their head along to every riff, singing along to every word, is sure to make any music lover smile.

Disc 2 is wonderful as well. Music videos for "The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)" and "March Of Mephisto" (both the censored and uncensored versions) are included. I was a little disappointed in how much of "The Haunting" was cut out for the video -- it's one of my favorite songs, so I'd prefer to enjoy it in all its glory -- but it's a lovely video nevertheless. Simone Simons looks awesome with her bright red hair and beautiful navy blue eye makeup (why aren't shades as bright and bold as that sold in Target or something?), and those familiar with the storyline of The Black Halo will surely catch on to what's going on in the clip.

The section titled Journey Within features in-depth individual interviews with Kamelot guitarist Thomas Youngblood, drummer Casey Grillo and keyboardist Oliver Palotai. Kamelot fans learn that Palotai never originally intended to be in a metal band; his background was rooted mainly in classical and jazz.

There is also an extensive interview with Epica's Simone Simons, which is a big treat for me since Epica is one of my favorite bands. Simons speaks of how she first met Kamelot and how they decided to collaborate, and how Epica actually got their name from Kamelot's 2003 release Epica. Additionally, written member biographies give Kamelot maniacs an insight into each band member's favorite bands (bassist Glenn Barry has an Iron Maiden fixation; Khan loves Tool), actors (Grillo is a fan of Tom Hanks), and much, much more.

One Cold Winter's Night is a DVD that more bands should take cues from. Far too often, bands slap together lame footage with minimal effort. It's easy to see, though, that Kamelot put tons of effort into making this two-disc set something that their fans can really appreciate. It's clear that these guys live for what they do, and they're exceptionally skilled musicians. Watching the live concert has made me bump them up several spots on my ever-growing Who I Need To See Live list, and seeing the interviews gives me an entirely new sense of respect for them. Without question, Kamelot fans need this, and those who generally love melodic, epic, progressive power metal but who aren't too familiar with Kamelot yet would be smart to look into this as well. One Cold Winter's Night is worth every penny.




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD