Ethereal Metal

Ryan Murray | Co-Owner | Chief Editor | Contributor | Photographer

r.m.music84@gmail.com

International symphonic metal legends KAMELOT—renowned for their infectious melodies, cinematic storytelling, and electrifying live performances—return with their haunting new album Dark Asylum, arriving August 28 via Napalm Records. Now 14 albums deep into a genre-defining career—including Haven (#1 Billboard Hard Rock), The Shadow Theory (#2 Billboard Hard Rock, #1 Amazon Hard Rock & Metal), and most recently The Awakening (#2 Billboard Hard Rock and Top 10 on the German charts)—the band continues to stand as a commanding force in modern metal after more than three decades.

Set within a shadowed Neo Victorian-era world, Dark Asylum invites listeners beyond the gates of RavenHill Asylum—an imposing institution once built as a grand cathedral, now repurposed into a place where science, faith, and madness uneasily coexist.

Kamelot founder and guitarist Thomas Youngblood adds about the record:
“Dark Asylum follows a soul trapped inside a world of masks, fractured memories, and psychological torment, wandering the endless halls of RavenHill in search of truth, identity, and redemption. What begins as a descent into darkness gradually transforms into a journey of awakening, where beneath the fear, illusion, and chaos lies the possibility of healing, hope, and ultimately a path out of the shadows into Sanctuary. The album explores the duality between despair and salvation, blurring the lines between reality and madness through theatrical storytelling, haunting atmospheres, and deeply emotional themes.”

Frontman frontman Tommy Karevik adds: 
“Dark Asylum invites listeners into the hidden chambers of the human mind. A journey where every door reveals a different story, yet all remain deeply connected. At its core, the album explores the duality of human nature: the constant tension between fear and hope, chaos and stillness, destruction and healing. Dark Asylum reflects the struggle to remain sane within a cold and barren world, while ultimately discovering that salvation is not something found externally, but something that already exists within us all. Through self-exploration, awareness, and inner peace, healing becomes possible. This concept opened the door to a more cinematic and haunting sonic landscape, allowing us to experiment with darker, more eerie musical themes.”

Longtime KAMELOT producer Sascha Paeth returns to helm the album, alongside Jacob Hansen, who oversees mixing and mastering. 

Karevik concludes:
“The imagery was intentionally painted with delicate strokes, capturing the fine line between beauty and disorder, and the way chaos and tranquility coexist within the same space. The result is an immersive experience that feels both unsettling and deeply human. A descent into darkness that ultimately searches for light.”

Deepening the immersion of RavenHill, Dark Asylum will be released on a plethora of exciting platforms including standard gold, solid silver, and classic black vinyl editions, certified vinyl with the white label, white splatter, and blood filled variants, the latter of which are each paired with an official 24 page booklet! Multiple CD digipak available, with the 2 disc version including an instrumental version of the album, alongside cassette and digital options!

Pre-Order Your Copy Of Dark Asylum NOW.

KAMELOT pushes further into cinematic and atmospheric territory on Dark Asylum, diving deeper into theatrical darkness while preserving the signature hooks that define their sound. Candlelight trembles along towering arches and cold stone corridors as you are greeted familiar spectres: Avantasia mastermind Tobias Sammet, Eluveitie’s Lea-Sophie Fischer, Visions of Atlantis’s Clémentine Delauney, Decessus frontwoman and current reigning Miss World Chile champion Ignacia Fernández, Rannveig Sif Sigurðardóttir and Sólveig Sara Leupold, and Billy King! Identity fractures, reality bends, and control slips into unseen hands, guiding its central figure through a descent into psychological darkness that ultimately leads toward transformation… and perhaps sanctuary. From the cinematic sweep of “Ashen World” to the introspective depth of “Sanctuary,” and the layered mystique of “Ivy, My Dear,” Dark Asylumunfolds as a fully immersive journey, blending orchestral grandeur, haunting melodies, and theatrical storytelling into one cohesive vision.

Will you find sanctuary?
Or will you wander its halls for eternity?

DARK ASYLUM TRACK LISTING:
“Sanctorium”
“Ashen World” (feat. Ignacia Fernández)
“Dark Asylum”
“Sanctuary” (feat. Clémentine Delauney & Ignacia Fernández)
“Nocte Veritas”
“One Last Masquerade” (feat. Tobias Sammet)
“⁠Ivy, My Dear”
“Godlike Alchemy”
“The Sleeping Mind (Orphic Paradigm)”
“Kaleidoscope”
“Enigma (Think of Me)”
“Cassandra’s Disease”
“Beneath the Moon (Tunglið)” (feat. Rannveig Sif Sigurðardóttir, Sólveig Sara Leupold, Lea-Sophie Fischer)
“⁠The Puppet King”
“⁠Sanctum Requiem”

Dark Asylum will be available in the following formats:
1-LP White Label Edition, incl. LP-Sized Booklet 24 pages, Certificate, Covercard – strictly limited (Napalm exclusive)
1-LP Liquid BLOOD FILLED Vinyl, incl. LP-Sized Booklet 24 pages, Certificate– strictly limited (Napalm exclusive)
2-CD 36 pages Earbook, incl. Instrumental Album – strictly limited (Napalm exclusive)
1-LP Zoetrope Vinyl, incl. LP-Sized Booklet 24 pages – strictly limited (Napalm exclusive)
1-LP White Splatter Vinyl, incl. LP-Sized Booklet 24 pages – strictly limited (Napalm ROW exclusive)
1-LP Solid Gold Vinyl – strictly limited (Napalm ROW exclusive)
1-LP Marbled Oxblood Red/Black Vinyl – strictly limited (Napalm US exclusive)
1-LP Solid Silver
1-LP Black Vinyl
Digipak CD
Cassette

Always committed to bringing their worlds beyond the studio, KAMELOT will take RavenHill Asylum on the road this fall with the immersive Dark Asylum World Tour, spanning North America and Europe. Once you step inside RavenHill… there is no turning back.

KAMELOT’s Dark Asylum World Tour:
North America Pt. 1:
With Visions of Atlantis + Frozen Crown:

8/28 — Orlando, FL — Hard Rock Live
8/29 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Heaven)
8/31 — Dallas, TX — The Studio at the Factory
9/2 — Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren
9/3 — Las Vegas, NV — House of Blues
9/4 — Anaheim, CA — House of Blues
9/5 — San Francisco, CA — The Fillmore
9/7 — Vancouver, BC — Vogue Theatre
9/8 — Seattle, WA — Neptune
9/10 — Salt Lake City, UT — Rockwell at The Complex
9/11 — Denver, CO — Summit Music Hall
9/12 — Kansas City, MO — The Truman
9/14 — Minneapolis, MN — First Avenue
9/15 — Milwaukee, WI — The Rave
9/17 — St. Charles, IL — The Arcada Theatre
9/18 — Cleveland, OH — Globe Iron
9/19 — Toronto, ON — Phoenix Concert Theatre
9/20 — Montreal, QC — MTELUS
9/22 — Quebec City, QC — Theatre Capitole
9/24 — Glenside, PA — Keswick Theatre
9/25 — Worcester, MA — The Palladium
9/26 — New York, NY — Palladium Times Square
9/27 — Silver Spring, MD — The Fillmore Silver Spring

KAMFEST DARK ASYLUM
10/30 — Tilburg, NL — O13 (KAMFEST)
10/31 — Tilburg, NL — O13 (KAMFEST)

EUROPE PT. 1
With Exit Eden + Temperance:

11/1 — London, UK — O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
11/3 — Manchester, UK — O2 Ritz Manchester
11/5 — Oberhausen, DE — Turbinenhalle
11/6 — Pratteln, CH — Z7 Konzertfabrik
11/7 — Lyon, FR — La Rayonne
11/8 — Stuttgart, DE — LKA
11/10 — Krakow, PL — Klub Studio
11/11 — Warsaw, PL — Progresja
11/13 — Zagreb, HR — Boogaloo
11/14 — Budapest, HU — Barba Negra Red Stage
11/15 — Belgrade, RS — Hangar
11/17 — Trezzo sull’Adda, IT — Live Club
11/18 — Padova, IT — Hall
11/20 — Toulouse, FR — Metronum
11/21 — Barcelona, ES — Razzmatazz 1
11/22 — Madrid, ES — Sala La Riviera

KAMELOT ARE:
Tommy Karevik — Vocals
Thomas Youngblood — Guitars
Oliver Palotai — Keyboards
Sean Tibbetts — Bass Guitar
Alex Landenburg — Drums