KAMELOT's Tommy Karevik has laid out the story behind "Dark Asylum", and admitted the record was written in the worst possible conditions for him personally: between shows.
Asked by Poland's MetalSide.pl whether it was hard to work on material while the band spent the last two years on the road, Karevik said the split does not suit him. "We probably had a couple of songs brewing on tour, if that's what you're asking. But then most of the songs came after the fact. We have been playing festivals and playing shows when we were writing at the same time, which is not always optimal. For me, I either play live and all my energy goes into that, or I am in creative mode. I have a hard time being in both. So, to answer your question, it's a little bit challenging, at least for me personally, to juggle the two different worlds."
The concept itself is an argument dressed as a setting. "The overarching theme of it, it's set in this dark asylum imagery, where we are the prisoners of our own creations. It's easy to get caught in the fear and the doubt and all the experiences you had and not know how to get out of it. And I think we wanted to portray a world where that doesn't have to be the case. There's a light at the end of the tunnel at some point. And maybe that light is actually always with you inside of you. Rather than reaching out for salvation somewhere to something, asking for permission, maybe you already have everything you need inside of you."
Around that sits an actual asylum, with rooms and inhabitants. "It has characters. It has different scenes, different rooms. We have the doctors, we have the patients. And it's an interesting thing to write about because there's so much in the human mind and the conscious mind and the subconscious mind that it's fun to explore."
He was deliberate about not making the album a puzzle you need the key to. "There are certain songs that are a little bit more specific, but most of the songs have this — you can listen to it as a song out of context, and you still get a good message and still get a good feeling. But it can also be put in the context of the album and make sense."
On keeping the concept from steering the music, Karevik said he works backwards from images. "I work very well with having imagery to work with. Like, 'Okay, this is the setting and the scene. This is what it looks like.' I have to live with the music for a bit. And sometimes I get a song delivered to me without vocals and lyrics. Then I also wanna sit and listen to that song a lot and breathe with it and live with it in my headphones for a long time until I feel, 'Ah, this has to be this way.'"
Longtime producer Sascha Paeth returned for the album, with Jacob Hansen mixing and mastering. KAMELOT are currently headlining North America with VISIONS OF ATLANTIS and FROZEN CROWN, closing September 27 in Silver Spring, Maryland, before a European run with EXIT EDEN and TEMPERANCE that ends in Madrid on November 22.