''Ghost Opera'' is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

from

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

band

Kamelot Kamelot is an American power metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed by Thomas Youngblood, in 1987. The Norwegian vocalist Roy Khan joined for the album ''Siége Perilous'', and shared songwriting credit with Youngblood until his departure in Apr ...

. It was released in 2007 by

SPV GmbH SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributor ...

Steamhammer Records SPV GmbH (short for ''Schallplatten Produktion und Vertrieb GmbH'', "Vinyl Production and Distribution Company") is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributor ...

, on June 1 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and followed by releases on June 4 in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and June 5 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is the first studio album by Kamelot to feature keyboardist

Oliver Palotai Oliver Palotai (born 17 March 1974) is a classically trained German musician of Hungarian ancestry, husband of Simone Simons from Epica, best known as a member of the power metal band Kamelot and of Doro Pesch's touring band. Career He made his n ...

, and the last with bassist

Glenn Barry Kamelot is an American power metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed by Thomas Youngblood, in 1987. The Norwegian vocalist Roy Khan joined for the album '' Siége Perilous'', and shared songwriting credit with Youngblood until his departure in ...

. The album spawned four

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s for the songs "Ghost Opera", "The Human Stain", "Rule the World" and "Love You to Death".Kamelot.com
From a quick update with Thomas Youngblood, 14th March 2008 On ''Billboard'' 200, the album peaked at number 18 on

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

and number 48 on

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' maga ...

. Prior to the release of the album, SPV Records distributed a strictly limited

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

of "Ghost Opera", handed out to fans attending the European Tour in March, April and May 2007. The album was released on vinyl in the spring of 2009, along with ''

The Black Halo ''The Black Halo'' is the highly acclaimed, seventh full-length album by the American power metal band Kamelot. It was released on March 15, 2005, through Steamhammer Records. It is a concept album inspired by Goethe's Faust. Continuing the stor ...

''.

Track listing

All songs written by Kamelot.(2007). "''Ghost Opera'' liner notes". In ''Ghost Opera'' D booklet Steamhammer.

Limited edition CD + DVD and ''The Second Coming''

In 2008, a reissue of ''Ghost Opera'' entitled ''Ghost Opera: The Second Coming'' was released on March 28 in Germany, March 31 for the rest of Europe and April 8 in the

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The album was released as a double-disc set, with the first disc featuring ''Ghost Opera'' as previously released, and the videos for "The Human Stain" and "Memento Mori", filmed in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. The second disc contained 10 live tracks from the same show, as well as three bonus tracks from ''Ghost Opera'' and ''

'' and a remix of "Rule the World".

Charts

Personnel

Credits for ''Ghost Opera'' adapted from liner notes. Kamelot *

Roy Khan Roy Sætre Khantatat ( th, รอย ขันธทัต; born 12 March 1970), commonly known as Roy Khan, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer for progressive metal band Conception and the former lead vocalist for symp ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s *

Thomas Youngblood Thomas Youngblood (born May 29, 1974) is an American metal guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of power metal band Kamelot. Early life At the age of 12, after the death of his father, Youngblood moved from Virginia to Florida where he sta ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s *

– bass * Casey Grillo –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

– keyboards Additional personnel * Miro – orchestrations, keyboards, engineering *

Simone Simons Simone Johanna Maria Simons (born 17 January 1985) is a Dutch singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica, which she joined at the age of seventeen, releasing eight studio albums and touring the world ...

– female vocals on "Blücher" *

Amanda Somerville Amanda Somerville (born March 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach who resides in Wolfsburg, Germany. She is known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands. Biography Personal life Somerville was ...

– female vocals on "Mourning Star", "Love You to Death", "Season's End" and "Ghost Opera" *

Sascha Paeth Sascha Paeth (born 9 September 1970 in Wolfsburg, West Germany) is a German guitarist, bassist, musical producer, and mixer known for working with heavy metal bands such as Avantasia, Edguy, Angra, Shaaman, Rhapsody of Fire, Kamelot, After For ...

– additional guitars, engineering Ghost Opera Choir * Cinzia Rizzo,

Robert Hunecke-Rizzo Robert Hunecke-Rizzo (17 June 1971 in Wolfsburg) is a German bassist, guitarist and drummer, known for his work with Heavens Gate, Luca Turilli, and Kamelot. He was one of the founding members of the supergroup Aina, which released the metal oper ...

, Thomas Rettke Personnel * Olaf Reitmeier – engineering * Simon Oberender – engineering * Bredo Myrvang – recording * Mattias Norén – artwork, layout * Elin Strigå – photo editing * Alexandra V Bach – artwork * Liliana Sanches – photography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Opera 2007 albums Kamelot albums SPV/Steamhammer albums