Thomas Youngblood | |
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 Youngblood performing in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | May 29, 1965 Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Origin | Tampa, Florida, United States |
| Genres | Power metal, progressive metal, symphonic metal |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Website | www.thomasyoungblood.com |
Thomas Youngblood (born May 29, 1965) is an American metal guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of power metal band Kamelot. [1]
At the age of 12, after the death of his father, [2] Youngblood moved from Virginia to Florida where he started learning to play guitar at age 15. [3] Shortly after his move he began playing in his first band with school mates from the neighborhood. Through this he met drummer Richard Warner, and they decided to start a band together. [4]
Kamelot was founded in Tampa, Florida by Youngblood and Richard Warner in 1991. [5] They signed their first contract in 1994 with German label Noise Records. [6] Six albums were released through the label. [7] After the release of Epica in 2003 they started working with SPV/Steamhammer. [8] With them they released The Black Halo (2005) and Ghost Opera (2007), after a temporary switch to Edel Music for the release of Poetry for the Poisoned (2010), [9] they were back with SPV for another release with Silverthorn (2012). [10] Currently the band is under contract with Napalm Records, Universal, ADA/Warner and King Records and released the album Haven in 2015. [11]
Youngblood was the main composer of Kamelot's music from 1994 to 1998, collaborating with singer Roy Khan from 1998 to 2010. When Khan decided to leave the band, Tommy Karevik (Seventh Wonder) became the new singer. The new composing/writing team of the band consists of Thomas Youngblood, Oliver Palotai (keyboards), Sascha Paeth (producer) and Tommy Karevik (vocals). During Kamelot live shows Youngblood sings backing vocals and harsh vocals ("March of Mephisto") if needed. The song "Don't You Cry" is dedicated to his father [12] and "Hunter's Season" to his mother. [13]
Youngblood is the only founding member continuously active in the band since its formation. [3] He is also the CEO of KMI Entertainment, who are responsible for Kamelot's management and booking. [14] With Kamelot, Youngblood played multiple headliner tours during the last 20 years in America, Asia, Australia and Europe and some of the biggest festivals like Wacken Open Air, [15] Sweden Rock Festival, [16] Sonisphere Festival, [17] and Rock am Ring. [18] After Kamelot released their 2023 studio album, The Awakening, the first single of the album, "One More Flag in the Ground", was under consideration for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance.
Youngblood collaborated with Mark Vanderbilt (ex-Kamelot vocalist) in the late 1990s for a project called "Monarque". The song "Arion" was released on the compilation CD "Powerquest – The Awakening". [19] [20]
Consortium Project is the brainchild of Ian Parry, vocalist of the Dutch band Elegy. Youngblood and Ian Parry met when Elegy toured with Kamelot in 1998. [21] When the first album Consortium Project was recorded, Youngblood was part of it. Other contributions by Patrick Rondat, Arjen Lucassen, Stephan Lill and others. [22] Youngblood also contributed on the second album Continuum in Extremis in 2001. He has co-songwriting credits for "Poetic Justice". [23]
In 2003, Youngblood was invited to play guitars on the metal opera Days of Rising Doom by supergroup Aina, a project of Amanda Sommerville, Sascha Paeth, Robert Hunecke-Rizzo and Michael Rodenberg. [24]
In 2003, another collaboration between Ian Parry and Thomas Youngblood came to fruit. They recorded the song "Flight of Icarus" for the Iron Maiden tribute double album Slave to the Power . [25]
Youngblood lives in Tampa with his wife Mari, a soprano vocalist. Mari Youngblood made appearances as guest artist on Kamelot's Epica and The Black Halo , as well as live appearances in 2007 and on the live DVD One Cold Winter's Night . [26]
The voice of their daughter Annelise appears in "Soul Society" ( The Black Halo ) [27] and the nursery rhyme of "Sacrimony" (Silverthorn). [28] The voice of their son Thomas can be heard as the chorus in "Burns to Embrace" ( The Shadow Theory ) [29]
His main inspirations are varied and range from metal to new age. [3] In addition to playing guitar, Youngblood plays drums, saxophone and keyboard. [1]
Rude Awakening is the fifth studio album by American metal band Prong. It is an enhanced CD but was also released as a special limited edition on 12" red vinyl. The album was reissued in 2008 as a digipak version, featuring four remixes of the "Rude Awakening" single and a new booklet.
Freedom Call is a German power metal band formed in 1998. The band tours regularly and the current line-up includes one original member, lead vocalist and songwriter, Chris Bay. Freedom Call has released 14 albums in total, eleven of these studio albums.
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 April 2011. On June 22, 2012, Youngblood announced on their website that their new vocalist would be the Swedish singer Tommy Karevik, who was first featured on Kamelot's album Silverthorn as the main vocalist, co-songwriter, and lyricist.
The Black Halo is the seventh studio album by 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 story introduced in Epica (2003), it is the second and final record in Kamelot's two-part rock opera about Ariel. Epica tells Part 1 while The Black Halo tells Part 2. Goethe's Faust is also broken into two parts. The Black Halo features guest appearances by Simone Simons (Epica), Shagrath, Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), and several others. The album was released on vinyl in the spring of 2009, along with Ghost Opera (2007).
Karma is the fifth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. It was released on July 9, 2001 through Noise Records which is a part of Sanctuary Records.
The Fourth Legacy is the fourth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. It was released in 1999 by Noise Records/Modern Music. It is the first album to credit vocalist Roy Khan as a writer on all tracks, establishing him as the main songwriter of the band together with founder and guitarist Thomas Youngblood.
SPV GmbH is a German independent record label. Founded on 1 January 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors and record labels worldwide.
One Cold Winter's Night is the second live album by American power metal band Kamelot, released in 2006 on the SPV label Steamhammer in Germany. It is the second live album and first live DVD from the band, and was released on November 14, 2006. It marks the first appearance of Oliver Palotai on keyboards. The album featured guest appearances by Simone Simons while the second disc of the DVD set contained a number of interviews and videos.
Dead Again is the seventh and final studio album by the American gothic metal band Type O Negative, released before the death of frontman Peter Steele in 2010, and subsequent dissolution of the band. It was released on March 13, 2007, through record label Steamhammer, a subsidiary of SPV.
Ghost Opera is the eighth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. It was released in 2007 by SPV GmbH/Steamhammer Records, on June 1 in Germany and followed by releases on June 4 in Europe and June 5 in the United States. It is the first studio album by Kamelot to feature keyboardist Oliver Palotai, and the last with bassist Glenn Barry. The album spawned four music videos for the songs "Ghost Opera", "The Human Stain", "Rule the World" and "Love You to Death".
Good to Be Bad is the tenth studio album by British hard rock band Whitesnake, released on 18 April 2008 in Germany, 21 April 2008 in Europe and 22 April in North America by SPV/Steamhammer. It was the band's first album of new studio material in a decade, since 1997's Restless Heart, not including the four new tracks recorded for the 2006 live album Live: In the Shadow of the Blues. The album was the very first collaboration between lead vocalist David Coverdale and guitarist Doug Aldrich. The album charted at number 62 on the Billboard 200 chart, number 8 on the Top Independent albums chart, number 23 on the Canadian Albums Chart and number 7 on the UK Albums Chart. As of sales in March 2011, the album sold over 700,000 copies worldwide, considered as unexpected as an independent label release.
Kobra and the Lotus (also initialized as KATL) is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in 2009 by lead vocalist and songwriter Kobra Paige.
Poetry for the Poisoned is the ninth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. It was released on the earMUSIC label, a subdivision of Edel, on September 10, 2010 in Europe, and four days later in North America by the band's own label, KMG Recordings, in conjunction with Knife Fight Media.
Hammercult was an Israeli-based thrash metal band, founded in 2010. The band is regarded as the leading extreme metal band of the Israeli metal movement in the 2000s.
Silverthorn is the tenth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. The album was released on the Steamhammer label, a division of SPV, in October 2012 worldwide. It is the first album to feature Tommy Karevik as the lead singer and their third concept album, after Epica (2003) and The Black Halo (2005). The concept and story are original, and features a 19th-century little girl named Jolee, who dies in a tragic accident witnessed by her twin brothers. The story deals with how the girl's affluent family handles the tragic event, leading to cover-ups, secrets, and betrayal. The cover by Stefan Heilemann shows Jolee, the main character and angel of afterlife, as an adult.
Alissa White-Gluz is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, and former lead vocalist and founding member of the Canadian metalcore band the Agonist. Her vocal style includes both growling and clean vocals (singing). Although primarily associated with melodic death metal and metalcore, she has appeared as a guest vocalist for power metal, symphonic metal and deathcore bands, notably Kamelot, Delain, Carnifex and Powerwolf, and has performed live with Nightwish and Tarja Turunen.
Haven is the eleventh studio album by American power metal band Kamelot, released in North America on May 5, 2015 and world-wide on May 8. The album is produced by Sascha Paeth and mastered by Jacob Hansen. The cover and artwork were created by Stefan Heilemann and the additional art/layout were done by Gustavo Sazes. It features guest appearances by Alissa White-Gluz, Troy Donockley and Charlotte Wessels. It is also the band's first album with Napalm Records.
This is the discography for American power metal band Kamelot.
The Shadow Theory is the twelfth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. The album is produced by Sascha Paeth and was released on April 6, 2018. Guests on the album include Lauren Hart and Jennifer Haben.
The Awakening is the thirteenth studio album by American power metal band Kamelot. The album was released on March 17, 2023, via Napalm Records. It is the band's first studio album in five years, following 2018's The Shadow Theory, making this the longest gap between two studio albums by Kamelot.
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