In the spotlight (part 3): Tommy Karevik

[Kazar]

The idea: each week we'll place a SW-member in the spotlight and share/discuss our feelings and thoughts regarding his playing (and in this case, singing/lyrics).

Third in line: Tommy Karevik

Here's a nice qoute from Tommy about his influences:
"...Well my biggest influence would have to be Jorn Lande! Ever since I laid hands on The Beyond Twilight album "The Devils hall of fame" I have been under his spell! Even though I may not sound like him much, I am sure that if you dig deep into my vocal style you will find a few familiar things.... Before I got into hard rock and metal music, musicans like Michael Jackson, bands like Queen and stuff like the soundtrack to 'The Phantom of the Opera' were frequently spinning in my player.
At about 18 I started listening more to Sonata Arctica and later on I overdosed Dream Theaters 'Scenes from a memory'...
During the last couple of years I would have to say that I consider Symphony X and ACT my favorite bands. Russell Allen is one of the greatest and most diverse singers on this planet and Jerry who composes all the music for ACT is such a musical genius!
Another thing that changed my view on music was joining SW. Meeting all these great musicians with different musical backgrounds introducing me to a lot of great stuff!
I never tried to change my voice to sound like anyone else, but if you mix all the above mentioned infuences I think you will get a pretty good idea of why I compose, sing and express myself the way I do!...".



So, do you have some favourite 'Tommy'-parts?
Do you prefer a certain vocalstyle Tommy sings in (or do you love it all)?
What do you think of Tommy's lyrics? Do you have favourites within his lyrical contributions?
etc....

 

[floftheim]

I love all of Tommys fantastic singing, but here is a few highlights for me.
(These are mostly soft parts, but I love all of Tommys singing styles)
- "Wizeman". The soft part from ca 4:05.
- The last note of "Long Way Home: "...And all that I can do is cryyyyyyyy..." Damn
- "One Last Goodbye". So emotional.
- "Tears For A Father". Oh the emotions...and what a fantastic voice
- The intro/first part of "The Great Escape" (the song). Beautiful.
- The last part of "The Great Escape" (the song): From "...Now here I stand my dear...." (writing this with a little tear in my eyes )
(I'm a "softie", i know )
- Some parts of "The Great Escape" (the song) where he sings in a "special way" that I can't explain. One part is at ca 7:45.

Please hurry up and make some more music!

 

[Frankgate]

I love all Tommy's vocals, couldn't choose one part from another.

 

[KrisHQ]

Tommy i such a great vocalist!
He is up there with Myles Kennedy and Russell Allen, though they all sound different.
The ability to choose whether he wants distortion or not, is probably the thing i admire the most.
Having such a beautiful voice, but at the same time being able to get that "edge".
I really love his voice in "Edge Of My Blade" the F5 (If i remember correctly) is very awesome, as well as the distorted "Blade" later on.
There're of course a lot of other brilliant singing moments, the E5 in "Breaking the silence intro" for example.
Singing in Tears for a father and the intro to TGE are worth mentioning as well.
Keep up the good work!

 

[fire_angel]

Russell Allen aside, Tommy is quite probably my favourite metal vocalist. Depending on the direction that the band take with their next album, I would LOVE to see Tommy really challenge himself with some darker melodies, or quicker shifts between harmony ranges. I do hear a lot of people say that Tommy is the star of SW, but i don't believe that's true whatsoever - He just has a fantastic voice and it's incredibly well suited to the bands style.

 

[fillipeano]

Tommy is much more than a metal vocalist... The rest of the band really helps nudge Tommy into the proggy side of things. He would be perfect in almost any style of music. The very first thing I noticed about this band was the backing vocals on the albums. The notes are perfect, very layered, and phenomenal! Such a smooth and beautiful voice, with the ability to move you. I honestly have nothing negative to say about the way Tommy sings.

 

[victoriagrimalkin]

Tommy's singing is what brought me to SW, since I first saw his guest appearances with Kamelot on YouTube. I'm ashamed to say that I would love to see him become Kamelot's permanent vocalist, but only if he could continue with Seventh Wonder as well. There are many singers who work with several bands, so I suppose it could happen, but since I have bought all the SW cds (including Become), I must say that this group has eclipsed Kamelot in my eyes. I don't think there is anyone out there, except Tommy Karevik, who could replace Roy Khan and restore Kamelot to my #1 favorite prog/power metal band.

 

[donKyle]

Tommy has such an amazing voice, and I never get tired of hearing it. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like his voice sounds different on TGE than previous albums.

 

[|ngenius]

Hello, everyone

Let me put it this way: Seventh Wonder changes from a good melodic technical metal band to become an outstanding supergroup thanks to Tommy Karevic.

Now let me ellaborate on this: you can have a pretty damn good guitar player, but it is easier to replace a good guitar player than a naturally talented vocalist.

Take the band Gotthard for example (not strictly metal, but I love them). After Steve Lee unfortunately and heartbreakingly passed away, they replaced the singer for another guy who, in spite of being a good singer, lacks the out of this world graspy voice of Steve Lee. You can't replace that voice nearly as easy as you would replace the axeman or the drummer.

Drummers, guitar players, bassists, they are all good and depending on what they add to the final product, it could vary dramatically in any direction, and any musician in the wide sense of the word is important, especially when it comes to compose and create. But getting an outstanding vocalist with a very personal voice is no easy thing to achieve. It is not in vain that vocalists are also referred to as frontmen.

Of course, there are exceptions. But generally speaking, it is easier to imitate and thus replace a good guitar player than a singer (take Freddy Mercury for example, who is pretty hard to be imitated, with the sole exception of maybe this guy:



I don't think he is as good as Mercury was, but he gets pretty close.

Tommy was the reason I fell for Seventh Wonder. The music, composition, arrangements, storyline and the technique of other band members is indeed important factor, no doubt. I'm only saying that you add an outstanding voice into the mix, and your quality increases exponentially.

Another good example is Jorn Lande, who Tommy quotes as one of his references. Lande started off being known as a David Coverdale's copycat (although he did pretty neat things before joining Micky Moody's The Snakes, and he sounded more like himself).

However, Lande evolved to find himself, and he has reached the Midas Touch level, in which he is capable of being guest vocalist in some other artist album, and that album skyrockets in quality. If you hear the song "Scarecrow" with Avantasia:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-PkfKZAT6E"]"Scarecrow" [/ame]

that song is absolutely mind blowing, and Jorn Lande involuntarily leaves Tobias Sammet like a noob (not that Sammet has a powerful voice, but he manages quite well to do the job, unless he has to face such an amazing vocalist).

And mind you... I never really dug Avantasia until Lande got involved.

BOTTOM LINE: Tommy Karevic could easily be one of the best singers nowadays, if he chooses his projects carefully and pairs his vocal talent with original and good composition (which the SW guys sure deliver), he can't but keep growing in fame and recognition.

Cheers,

|ngenius.

 

[Boks]

Hondo Stone...enough said...

Tommy karevik's range is sublime and is probably one of the best voices in prog, if not in all genres. It has been touched on before, but one of my favorite things is the emotion put into the musicality of his voice. It's one thing to be a great singer, but what really puts it over the top is when you listen to Tommy's voice, you can almost feel his soul come into your ear...even without listening to the lyrics. You can sense a shiver in your spine when he hits those high note (i.e. one last goodbye, ending) and there are very few musicians who are able to do that. I had never heard of him previous to SW and when I stumbled upon SW, I was hooked immediately by his voice. In my honest opinion and as a long standing DT and SX fan as well (I don't know why, but aside from the haunting (pbly because of Simone Simons), I never liked Kamelot that much), I would say his voice and emotion far surpass JL and RA. I look forward to see what comes next for Tommy and the band as a whole as they have quickly become my favorite prog group.
Boks

 

[Kazar]

Are there any 'new' insights/comments about this (at the moment, obviously) interesting issue?