KAMELOT's TOMMY KAREVIK Tries To Write 'Melodies That Are Nice And Exquisite' Without Having To Put His 'Balls In A Drawer'

Metal Wani's Jake Patton recently conducted an interview with KAMELOT frontman Tommy Karevik. You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked why it sometimes sounds like he is holding back and isn't belting it out with full force while singing the KAMELOT material, Tommy said: "I guess it's a lot of things. When I write vocals for SEVENTH WONDER [Tommy's other band], I don't have any restrictions at all — I can do exactly what I want and I don't have to play live so much. So it's a different thing when you write for something you know you're gonna play a lot live, because if you write close to your limit of what you actually can handle on a good day, it isn't very easy to do it every night for one and a half to two hours. If you have a cold, if you have something going on, it's gonna be tough for you to live up to people's expectations.

"For KAMELOT, we tour a lot — we play a lot of shows — so with lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of energy from sleeping on the bus or wherever it can be, having a cold on tour, it's just a smarter thing to try not to be on the limit of what you can handle or just above the limit," he explained. "'Cause maybe on a good day, you can hammer it out perfectly, but on a bad day, it's gonna sound not so good."

According to Tommy, KAMELOT's music also dictates the kind of vocals that end up making it to the final record. "It has just a little bit of a lower register, more theatrical… maybe not the old power metal style that was there in the beginning that we try to kind of move away from a little bit, or at least I try to move away," he said. "Because I like pop music and I like modern music, but not so much power metal anymore. So I tend to try to write melodies that are nice and exquisite but without having to put my balls in a drawer. [Laughs] But sometimes it's really nice. I like belting it out at times, but you can't do it all the time. And it's actually not to my own liking."

KAMELOT's latest album, "The Shadow Theory", was released April 6 via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2015's "Haven" was helmed by acclaimed music producer Sascha Paeth and mastered by Jacob Hansen. Guests on the album include Lauren Hart (ONCE HUMAN),Jennifer Haben (BEYOND THE BLACK) and Sascha Paeth. The cover artwork was created by Stefan Heilemann.