Photo by: Timo Maczollek/Nat Enemede
Official press release:
International symphonic metal legends Kamelot — renowned for their infectious melodies, cinematic storytelling, and electrifying live performances — return with their haunting new album Dark Asylum, arriving August 28 via Napalm Records. Now 14 albums deep into a genre-defining career — including Haven (#1 Billboard Hard Rock), The Shadow Theory (#2 Billboard Hard Rock, #1 Amazon Hard Rock & Metal), and most recently The Awakening (#2 Billboard Hard Rock and Top 10 on the German charts) — the band continues to stand as a commanding force in modern metal after more than three decades.
Set within a shadowed Neo Victorian-era world, Dark Asylum invites listeners beyond the gates of RavenHill Asylum—an imposing institution once built as a grand cathedral, now repurposed into a place where science, faith, and madness uneasily coexist.
Kamelot founder and guitarist Thomas Youngblood adds about the record:
“Dark Asylum follows a soul trapped inside a world of masks, fractured memories, and psychological torment, wandering the endless halls of RavenHill in search of truth, identity, and redemption. What begins as a descent into darkness gradually transforms into a journey of awakening, where beneath the fear, illusion, and chaos lies the possibility of healing, hope, and ultimately a path out of the shadows into Sanctuary. The album explores the duality between despair and salvation, blurring the lines between reality and madness through theatrical storytelling, haunting atmospheres, and deeply emotional themes.”
Frontman Tommy Karevik adds:
“Dark Asylum invites listeners into the hidden chambers of the human mind. A journey where every door reveals a different story, yet all remain deeply connected. At its core, the album explores the duality of human nature: the constant tension between fear and hope, chaos and stillness, destruction and healing. Dark Asylum reflects the struggle to remain sane within a cold and barren world, while ultimately discovering that salvation is not something found externally, but something that already exists within us all. Through self-exploration, awareness, and inner peace, healing becomes possible. This concept opened the door to a more cinematic and haunting sonic landscape, allowing us to experiment with darker, more eerie musical themes.”
Longtime Kamelot producer Sascha Paeth returns to helm the album, alongside Jacob Hansen, who oversees mixing and mastering.
Karevik concludes:
“The imagery was intentionally painted with delicate strokes, capturing the fine line between beauty and disorder, and the way chaos and tranquility coexist within the same space. The result is an immersive experience that feels both unsettling and deeply human. A descent into darkness that ultimately searches for light.”
Deepening the immersion of RavenHill, Dark Asylum will be released on a plethora of exciting platforms including standard gold, solid silver, and classic black vinyl editions, certified vinyl with the white label, white splatter, and blood filled variants, the latter of which are each paired with an official 24 page booklet! Multiple CD digipak available, with the 2 disc version including an instrumental version of the album, alongside cassette and digital options!
Pre-order your copy of Dark Asylum NOW.
Dark Asylum track listing:
- “Sanctorium”
- “Ashen World” feat. Ignacia Fernández
- “Dark Asylum”
- “Sanctuary” feat. Clémentine Delauney & Ignacia Fernández
- “Nocte Veritas”
- “One Last Masquerade” feat. Tobias Sammet
- “Ivy, My Dear”
- “Godlike Alchemy”
- “The Sleeping Mind (Orphic Paradigm)”
- “Kaleidoscope”
- “Enigma (Think of Me)”
- “Cassandra’s Disease”
- “Beneath the Moon (Tunglið)” feat. Rannveig Sif Sigurðardóttir, Sólveig Sara Leupold, Lea-Sophie Fischer
- “The Puppet King”
- “Sanctum Requiem”
