Dark Knights of Camelot
Hurrication EP
Olympic
I like the packaging better than the music from this fledgling metal band out of Hattiesburg, Miss. They play a brooding and noisy power metal, complete with jumpy time signatures, muddy and introspective lyrics, and a clipped, peg-the-spectrum-analyzer-in-Winamp mix. Fronting the trio is Ben Shea who covers both lead and vocals. On bass is a guy with the wonderful name Harry Crumpler III, and an energetic Simon Davenport is on the skins. At their best moments, Dark Knights of Camelot sound like a Led Zeppelin jam session, and at their worst, it’s like a free-form jazz/rock improv. “Duple” might be the pick of this five-song EP, Shea’s doped-up voice recalling Kurt Cobain on a bad day, and the lyrics sort of make sense and seem to approach love from the theory of “give up what is yours and take up what is mine.” Dark Knights of Camelot has the skills to get some airplay, and their cover art of Aeon Flux in a bubble bath is pretty cool, but I’m not hearing brilliance on this disk.
Dark Knights of Camelot: http://myspace.com/darkknightsofcamelot • Olympic Records: http://myspace.com/OlympicRecords
