One of the premiere subgenres in the metal world must be power metal. You have the traditional fast tempos that metalheads have come to love, paired with soaring angelic clean vocals, backed by uplifting and melodic instrumental sections. The music makes you feel like you are a hero in a fantasy world, and you are unstoppable. A band that has been doing this for nearly four decades is Kamelot, who has now embarked on their Dark Asylum World Tour to promote their 14^th studio album Dark Asylum. Making a stop at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA they brought with them Visions of Atlantis and Frozen Crown. Each band was playing their own style of power metal; fans were in for a treat with this lineup.

The first band of the night was Frozen Crown, hailing from Italy. Kicking the show off with “Kings,” you could already feel the energy emanating from the triple guitarists in the band, Federico Mondelli, Alessia Lanzone, and Alexandra Lioness. Drummer Niso Tomasini pounded away on his snare, holding down a consistent backbeat that gave fans the rhythm to latch onto and let the energy flow through them. It was vocalist Giada Etro that was the icing on the cake that tied the songs together. The spirit of her voice was so bright and full of energy that it raised the spirits of the audience. With Frozen Crown no member was outshined by the others, as many times all three guitarists would take the lead line and step up to the front of the stage to solo, while the other two backed them, making the solo fly even higher. Frozen Crown built a new fan base of first-time listeners with songs like “The One,” “Neverending,” “Who Wants to Burn in Heaven,” “Reborn,” “Iris,” and ending with “I Am the Tyrant.”

With the next band, I will always have a special memory of them, and that is Visions of Atlantis. The memory is that they opened for DragonForce on March 6^th, 2020. This was the last live concert I attended before we went into lockdown. Now six years later, I was ready to see them again and see how they have evolved as performers, and evolved they have! The band is themed around pirates sailing on the open seas, and they had a pirate ship façade placed behind them. Vocalists Clémentine Delauney and Michele Guaitoli act as our dual captains steering the ship of the music through the oceans of their set, while guitarist Christian Douscha, bassist Herbert Glos, and drummer Thomas Caser are shipmates making sure the ship sails with no issues. You could see how much this band has inspired its fans, as many people came dressed in pirate garb in support of Visions of Atlantis. Whether you wore the thematically correct garb, or were in modern clothes, we all boarded the ship with Visions of Atlantis to navigate the seven seas during their set, which included songs like “Master the Hurricane,” “Clocks,” “Tonight I’m Alive,” “Legion of the Seas,” “Hellfire,” “Pirates Will Return,” “Melancholy Angel,” and “Armada.” We had all pledged our allegiance to our new pirate captain, Visions of Atlantis.

It was then time for our headliner with Kamelot taking the stage. I love any chance I get to see this band live, as every member has so much character and personality on stage. Vocalist Tommy Karevik has such an uplifting energy to his singing, while his physical performance has him constantly interacting with the crowd and frequently appearing to make gestures like a phoenix rising and soaring off the stage. Founding member and guitarist Thomas Youngblood was frequently stepping out onto the platform in the security barricade to shred right in the faces of the adoring fans. Bassist Sean Tibbetts was constantly headbanging as his dreadlocks flew all around the stage. Keyboardist Oliver Palotai switched between his keys at the back of the stage and donning his keytar to get right up in front of the stage, adding so much personality to his playing. Drummer Alex Landenburg may have been stuck behind his kit, but you could see and feel how much energy and presence he was putting into his playing.

A unique aspect of a Kamelot show is that with their studio music they tend to bring in a lot of featured vocalists to add an additional layer to their sound. With their live shows, this translates into having their opening bands’ singers joining them. Frozen Crown’s Giada Etro came out for a feature on the songs “Ashen World,” “Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy),” “New Babylon,” and “March of Mephisto.” We even got a special moment for two songs when both Etro and Visions of Atlantis’s Clémentine Delauney performed with Kamelot for the songs “Sanctuary,” and the show’s final song “Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife).” These always feel like such special moments, as many bands would use backing tracks to fill in a featured artist’s vocal line, but Kamelot using the members from the tour helps create an even more unique and memorable show experience, for every new tour they put on.

The House of Blues was a power metal sanctuary this night as melodies soared sky high, and the vocalists took us up into the heavens. It’s rare to get such a stellar power metal lineup touring through Southern California, and fans showed up to show their love to the genre and these bands. Frozen Crown continues to build a fanbase with amazing showmanship from their members. Visions of Atlantis’s lore continues to become more grandiose with each album, and the pirate-loving audience will never abandon ship. While Kamelot shows that after nearly four decades of music they are still a standout band in the genre and can craft mesmerizing music that still resonates to fans to this day.