Tommy Karevik (9,007 views)

[Zedd Squared]

Member Of: Seventh Wonder (2005-2023), Firecracker (2010-?), Kamelot (2012-present), Ayreon (frequent guest collaborator since 2013)
Voice Type: Tenor
Vocal Range: E♭2-F♯5

High Notes:

F♯5 ("Damnation Below", "Dream Machines")
F5 ("Alley Cat", "The Day That the World Breaks Down", "The Edge of My Blade", "The Promise")
E5 ("Against the Grain", "Collision", "Exhale", "Get Out! Now!", "The Great Beyond", "The Light", "The Promise", "The Red River", "Wake the World")
E♭5 ("The Aftermath", "Alley Cat", "The Angelmaker", "Banish the Wicked", "The Black Parade", "Bloodmoon", "Break the Silence", "By the Light of the Funeral Pyres", "The Consultation", "The Everones", "Exhale", "Hide and Seek", "Invincible", "King of Whitewater", "The Last Day of Sunlight", "The Light", "The Looking Glass", "Midsummer's Eve", "Mindkiller", "Move on Through", "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "A New Balance", "One More Flag in the Ground", "Star of David", "A Turn for the Worst", "Under a Clear Blue Sky", "Victorious", "Waiting in the Wings", "Walking Tall", "Welcome to Mercy Falls")
D5 ("Against the Grain", "Collision", "Daniel's Descent Into Transitus", "Death of the Goddesses", "Deathcry of a Race", "Destiny Calls", "The Edge of My Blade", "The Great Beyond", "Inner Enemy", "Into the Ocean", "King of Whitewater", "Listen to My Story", "New Babylon", "Not an Angel", "Paradise", "The Prodigy's World", "The Red River", "Run! Apocalypse! Run!", "Second Self", "Talk of the Town", "Tiara's Song (Farewell Pt. 1)", "Under Grey Skies", "Wake the World")
C♯5 ("The Aftermath", "Alley Cat", "Amnesiac", "The Angelmaker", "Aquatic Race", "Back Broken", "Beyond Today (Farewell Pt. 3)", "Break the Silence", "The Breakthrough", "By the Light of the Funeral Pyres", "Damnation Below", "A Day Away", "Death of the Goddesses", "Dining on Ashes", "Dream Machines", "The Edge of My Blade", "Elegy", "The Everones", "Forever" live Masters of Rock 2018, "Gamekeeper's Song", "Get Out! Now!", "Goodnight (Farewell Pt. 2)", "Hide and Seek", "The Human Compulsion", "In the Blink of an Eye", "Inner Enemy", "Insomnia", "The Light", "Listen to My Story", "MindFall Remedy", "Mindkiller", "A New Balance", "The Promise", "The Proud and the Broken", "The Refrain", "Revolution", "Star of David", "Tiara's Song (Farewell Pt. 1)", "Unbreakable", "Under a Clear Blue Sky", "Victorious", "Walking Tall", "Warriors", "Welcome to Mercy Falls", "Wiseman")
C5 ("The Aftermath", "Against the Grain", "The Age of Confusion: Despair", "The Angelmaker", "Aquatic Race", "Banish the Wicked", "Blind Date", "Bloodmoon", "By the Light of the Funeral Pyres", "Center of the Universe" Various live performances, "Citizen Zero", "The Consultation", "The Curtain Falls", "The Day That the World Breaks Down", "Deathcry of a Race", "Destiny Calls", "Dining on Ashes", "Dream Machines", "EdenEcho" live Baltimore 2013, "Everybody Dies" live Ayreon Universe 2017, "Exhale", "Fallen Star", "Fatum Horrificum", "The Great Divide", "The Great Pandemonium" live 70000 Tons of Metal 2017, "The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)" Various live performances, "Here's to the Fall", "Hide and Seek", "Hopelessly Slipping Away", "I Carry the Blame", "Into the Black Hole" live Netherlands 2017, "Karma" Various live performances, "King of Whitewater", "Leaving Too Soon", "Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)", "The Light", "Long Way Home", "The Looking Glass", "March of Mephisto" Various live performances, "Mindkiller", "Move on Through", "My Confession", "New Babylon", "A New Balance", "One More Flag in the Ground", "Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem)", "Paradise", "The Promise", "Rule the World" Various live performances, "Run! Apocalypse! Run!", "She Is Innocent", "Silent Masquerade", "Solitaire", "Stars", "Taint the Sky", "Tiara's Song (Farewell Pt. 1)", "A Turn for the Worst", "Under Grey Skies", "Veil of Elysium", "Victorious", "Vinter", "The Visitation", "Waiting in the Wings", "Wake the World", "Warriors", "Wiseman")
B4 ("Against the Grain", "The Age of Confusion: Lust", "Alive!", "Alley Cat", "The Angelmaker", "Ashes to Ashes", "Back Broken", "Beyond Today (Farewell Pt. 3)", "The Black Parade", "Blind Date", "Break the Silence", "Burns to Embrace", "Collision", "Condemned to Live", "The Consultation", "The Curtain Falls", "Daniel's Vision", "A Day Away", "Death of the Goddesses", "Destiny Calls", "Devil's Inc.", "Dining on Ashes", "Elegy", "The Everones", "Everybody Dies", "Exhale", "Fall in Line", "Gamekeeper's Song", "The Great Beyond", "The Great Divide", "The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)" Various live performances, "The Human Compulsion", "I Want Out" live Stockholm 2010, "In the Blink of an Eye", "Insomnia", "Into the Ocean", "Invincible", "Midsummer's Eve", "Mindkiller", "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "NightSky", "Not an Angel", "Paradise", "Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire)", "A Place Called Behind", "Planet Y Is Alive!", "The Prodigy's World", "RavenLight", "The Red River", "Second Self", "Solitaire", "Star of David", "Take-Off", "The Ties That Bind", "The Truth", "A Turn for the Worst", "Two Worlds Now One", "Unbreakable", "Wake the World", "Warriors", "Welcome to Mercy Falls", "Willow", "Wiseman")
B♭4 ("The Age of Confusion: Reason", "Alley Cat", "Amnesiac", "...And the Earth Wept", "At First Light", "Banish the Wicked", "Beautiful Apocalypse", "The Black Parade", "Bloodmoon", "By the Light of the Funeral Pyres", "Center of the Universe" Various live performances, "Condemned to Live", "Destiny Calls", "Devil's Inc.", "Dream Machines", "End of Innocence", "Eventide","Fallen Star", "Forever" Various live performances, "Goodnight (Farewell Pt. 2)", "Grace", "The Great Divide", "The Great Pandemonium" live 70000 Tons of Metal 2017, "Here's to the Fall", "Hide and Seek", "The Human Stain" Various live performances, "In the Blink of an Eye", "In Twilight Hours", "Into the Black Hole" live Netherlands 2017, "Invincible", "King of Whitewater", "The Last Day of Sunlight", "Leaving Home", "Leaving Too Soon", "Long Way Home", "The Looking Glass", "Midsummer's Eve", "My Confession", "New Babylon", "NightSky", "One Last Goodbye", "Pieces", "Prodigal Son", "The Proud and the Broken", "The Promise", "Revolution", "Rule the World" Various live performances, "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)", "Side Effects", "Silverthorn", "Star of David", "Static", "Taint the Sky", "Take-Off", "Tiara's Song (Farewell Pt. 1)", "Unbreakable", "Under Grey Skies", "Veil of Elysium", "Veritas", "Vespertine (My Crimson Bride)", "Waiting in the Wings", "Walking Tall", "Wiseman")
A4 ("The Age of Confusion: Lust", "Alive!", "Ashes to Ashes", "At First Light", "Back Broken", "Blind Date", "The Breakthrough", "Burns to Embrace", "Center of the Universe" Various live performances, "Damnation Below", "Daniel's Descent Into Transitus", "Daniel's Vision", "Devil's Inc.", "Fall in Line", "Forever" Various live performances, "Ghost Opera" Various live performances, "Hopelessly Slipping Away", "Inner Enemy", "Into the Black Hole" live Netherlands 2017, "Into the Ocean", "Karma" Various live performances, "Kevlar Skin", "Leaving Home", "The Lighthouse", "Listen to My Story", "March of Mephisto" Various live performances, "Memento Mori" live Essigfabrik 2013, "MindFall Remedy", "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "My Therapy", "New Babylon", "Not an Angel", "Old Friend", "A Place Called Behind", "Prodigal Son", "The Refrain", "Stare Into My Eyes", "Stories Unheard", "The Ties That Bind", "The Truth", "Under a Clear Blue Sky", "Veil of Elysium", "Veritas", "Vespertine (My Crimson Bride)", "Vinter", "The Visitation", "Welcome to Mercy Falls", "When the Lights Are Down" Various live performances, "Willow")
G♯4 ("The Aftermath", "Against the Grain", "The Age of Confusion: Despair", "Aquatic Race", "Beautiful Apocalypse", "Beyond Today", "Break the Silence", "Citizen Zero", "A Day Away", "Elegy", "End of Innocence", "Eventide", "Fall in Line", "Falling Like the Fahrenheit", "Gamekeeper's Song", "Grace", "I Carry the Blame", "Insomnia", "Kevlar Skin", "Leaving Too Soon", "Long Way Home", "Move on Through", "One Last Goodbye", "One More Flag in the Ground", "Paradise", "Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire)", "Pieces", "A Place Called Behind", "Planet Y Is Alive!", "RavenLight", "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)", "Second Self", "Silent Masquerade", "Silverthorn", "Solitaire", "Song for Jolee", "Static", "Taint the Sky", "Tears for a Father", "Torn", "The Truth", "Unbreakable", "Warriors")

Low Notes:

E♭3 ("...And the Earth Wept", "Banish the Wicked", "The Black Parade", "Bloodmoon", "Damnation Below", "Daniel's Vision", "Destiny Calls", "Devil's Inc.", "Dream Machines", "EdenEcho" live Baltimore 2013, "End of Innocence", "Eventide", "The Everones", "Fall in Line", "Forever" Various live performances, "Ghost Opera" Various live performances, "Goodnight (Farewell Pt. 2)", "Grace", "I Carry the Blame", "In the Blink of an Eye", "In Twilight Hours", "The Light", "Long Way Home", "Pieces", "The Last Day of Sunlight", "The Looking Glass", "Midsummer's Eve", "The Proud and the Broken", "RavenLight", "Solitaire", "Star of David", "Static", "Taint the Sky", "Take-Off", "Unbreakable", "Under Grey Skies", "Vespertine (My Crimson Bride)", "Waiting in the Wings", "Wiseman")
D3 ("Ashes to Ashes", "At First Light", "Blind Date", "Citizen Zero", "Daniel's Vision", "Destiny Calls", "The Edge of My Blade", "The Haunting" Various live performances, "The Human Stain" Various live performances, "In Twilight Hours", "The Last Day of Sunlight", "Leaving Too Soon", "Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)", "March of Mephisto" Various live performances, "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "My Therapy", "The Lighthouse", "Prodigal Son", "The Red River", "Season's End" Various live performances, "Second Self", "Silent Masquerade", "Song for Jolee", "Stare Into My Eyes", "Talk of the Town", "Torn", "Under Grey Skies", "Veil of Elysium" Acoustic Version, "Veritas", "Vinter", "Wake the World")
C♯3 ("...And the Earth Wept", "Beyond Today (Farewell Pt. 3)", "Blind Date", "Break the Silence", "Exhale", "Goodnight (Farewell Pt. 2)", "Insomnia", "Midsummer's Eve", "My Therapy", "A New Balance", "One Last Goodbye", "Paradise", "Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire)", "The Promise", "Star of David", "Tears for a Father", "Tiara's Song (Farewell Pt. 1)", "Walking Tall", "Welcome to Mercy Falls", "Willow")
C3 ("At First Light", "Beautiful Apocalypse", "Center of the Universe" Various live performances, "Citizen Zero", "The Edge of My Blade", "End of Innocence" Piano Version, "Fallen Star", "Falling Like the Fahrenheit", "Grace", "The Haunting (Somewhere In Time)" Various live performances, "Here's to the Fall", "Karma" Various live performances, "Liar Liar (Wasteland Monarchy)", "My Confession", "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "New Babylon", "NightSky", "One More Flag in the Ground", "Pieces", "Revolution", "Rule the World" Various live performances, "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)", "Season's End" Various live performances, "Silverthorn", "Song for Jolee", "Static", "Stories Unheard", "Tears for a Son", "Torn", "Veil of Elysium", "Vinter", "Waiting in the Wings")
B2 ("Ashes to Ashes", "Back Broken", "Break the Silence", "Burns to Embrace", "Elegy", "Exhale" live Bologna 2019, "The Great Divide", "Memento Mori" live Essigfabrik 2013, "MindFall Remedy", "A New Balance", "One Last Goodbye", "Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire)", "The Prodigy's World", "The Red River", "Second Self", "The Ties That Bind", "Welcome to Mercy Falls")
B♭2 ("Amnesiac", "Fallen Star", "Falling Like the Fahrenheit", "Here's to the Fall", "My Confession", "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "One More Flag in the Ground", "Solitaire", "Tears for a Son", "Veritas")
A2 ("The Great Pandemonium" Various live performances, "My Pantheon (Forevermore)", "Not an Angel", "Opus of the Night (Ghost Requiem)", "Phantom Divine (Shadow Empire)", "Prodigal Son", "The Visitation")
G♯2 ("Falling Like the Fahrenheit", "Fortune?", "Insomnia")
G2 ("The Great Divide", "The Great Pandemonium" live Athens 2017, "New Babylon", "NightSky")
F♯2 ("Amnesiac", "My Therapy", "NightSky")
E2 ("Kevlar Skin", "Manus Dei")
E♭2 ("Bloodmoon", "The Proud and the Broken")

Despite being a huge name in modern melodic metal, Tommy Karevik's vocal skills are much more from the pop musical theatre world. His refined vibrato, crystalline tone, and highly emotive phrasing could come straight out of a Disney movie, but his level of power and dramatic delivery have translated surprisingly well to metal. By his own admission he didn't listen to heavy music until his early 20s, coming instead from a background as a pop listener which he built his vocal foundation on. This translates to a skill with vocal runs and resonant falsetto transitions that is unprecedented in the metal world.

When singing in Seventh Wonder, Karevik really gets the chance to play up the aforementioned characteristics of his voice. Their broad scope prog metal concept albums require a lot of dynamics and melodramatic emotion, something that few can deliver with the finesse of Karevik. By comparison, his work with Kamelot demonstrates a more subdued and almost "gothic" side of his voice, frequently delving into the lower register of his voice and using less of the melismatic touches that usually define his approach. Either way, Karevik brings an expert level of vocal technique and expression to any band/project he's a part of, and he is one of my favorite singer discoveries of this decade for that reason.

NOTE: Because The Great Escape is a 30 minute track with multiple labelled parts, I have used the name of each part in the OP rather than using "The Great Escape" as the title listing. Make sure to consult the wiki page for the album to know which title is referring to which section.
.......................................................
*Underlines mark notes in backing vocals or otherwise muffled/obscured in the song mix.
*Blue marks noticeably soft and/or disconnected sounding falsetto notes.
*Boldface marks notes that are considered to be particularly notable examples of this person's vocal capabilities.
*Italics mark non-sung notes.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Questionable Notes}E5 ("Blind Date" ^[2])
D5 ("Vespertine (My Crimson Bride)" ^[2])

B2 ("Old Friend" ^[3])
B♭2 ("Banish the Wicked" ^[3], "Long Way Home" ^[1])
G♯2 ("Citizen Zero" ^[3])
G2 ("Eventide" ^[2])
E♭2 ("NightSky" ^[4])
C♯2 ("My Therapy" ^[4])
B1 ("My Therapy" ^[3])

.......................................................
[1] marks yelps and short trills in high range or anacrusis and short dips in low range.
[2] marks notes of questionable identity that cannot be confirmed to be the singer in question.
[3] marks non-melodic notes that don't have a significant enough pitch to warrant inclusion.
[4] marks notes that possess uncertain pitch or have been pitch-shifted.
[5] marks notes that do not fit the previous criteria but are not of a substantial enough quality to warrant counting towards the singer's range.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Album Ranges}Seventh Wonder

Waiting in the Wings (2006): A2-C3-F5
Mercy Falls (2008): B♭2-E♭5
The Great Escape (2010): B2-F5
Welcome to Atlanta Live 2014 (2016): C♯3-F5*
Tiara (2018): C♯3-F♯5
The Testament (2022): B2-E5

Firecracker

Born of Fire (2010): B2-D5

Kamelot

Silverthorn (2012): E2-G♯2-C3-C5
Haven (2015): F♯2-B♭2-D5
The Shadow Theory (2018): E♭2-A2-C♯5
The Awakening (2023): E♭2-G2-E♭5

Ayreon

The Theory of Everything (2013): G♯2-E5
The Source (2017): E3-F5
Transitus (2020): D3-E5

*The listed range only counts for the studio tracks included on this release.

[mikale]

Love of my life wow

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

Totally agree with the bottom notes from "My Therapy" being listed under questionable notes, but for posterity I figured I'd point out that the section with the weird effects/possible pitch shifts on the backing vocals bottoms at C♯2, rather than D2.

[falsetokaiba]

D3, G#4 and C5 in this guest spot here with Tarja Turunen.

[Zedd Squared]

Thanks for the notes. Also, as far as the My Therapy note goes I only hear the line getting down to D at the end. It's implied that the melody COULD go to C# on "my therApy" but the backing vocal doesn't quite make it there from what I'm hearing, hell even the lead vocal barely grazes C# there.

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

I'm hearing quite a few clear C♯2s before that line, on "MY daily dose OF pain", "you're the antidote FOR solitude", and "may the TOUCH of your hand".

[Zedd Squared]

Ah yes I guess it does get down there a few times. Most likely I skimmed it because there was already the spoiler B1 from the beginning and the D2 stood out the most but I updated the OP now.

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

Managed to find "The Ties That Bind"! Really good B2s, E3s (though it looks like you chose not to count those as low notes), A4s, a B4.

[Zedd Squared]

Oh sweet. Added those notes to the OP. And yeah I did start to notice late into notewatching him that E3s could likely qualify as low notes for him but I didn't want to go back over everything for that note. If I still had the word document I originally notewatched him on I'd add the few I had listed there but I've forgotten them by now.

[Batfleck]

Found a rare live performance of Memento Mori! This is the only performance with Karevik on vocals according to setlistfm. Unfortunately, he doesn't hit the F♯2 (or G2 if it were in the original key/tuning). He only gets down to B2 for lows. There's some nice G4s and A4s as well.

[Zedd Squared]

Added those notes and finally finished notewatching the new SW album. It always bums me out how underwhelming Karevik is on the low note front in a live context compared to Khan (he always dodges the A2 in Center of the Universe for instance) but he does such a good job with everything else I guess I can't hold it against him too much. I imagine this is part of why they haven't played Memento Mori much though or Abandoned at all since he joined lol.

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

Lots of notes in the new Kamelot song! G♯4 in the intro vocal hook, lead vocal C3 on the verse and backing vocals down to at least A♯2 and maybe G2 (0:43). Then really good C5s on the choruses with a harmony D♯5 on one line (1:09 on the first chorus), an A♯4 on the bridge at 3:09, and a C♯5 on the final chorus at 3:25. It's pretty hard to tell where those backing vocals on the verse bottom out because of how buried they get, but a part of me wonders if there's any possibility they could follow the lead vocal down to C2...

Really solid tune as well, makes me hype to hear the rest of the new album when it comes out in March!

[Zedd Squared]

I don't hear anything especially clear below Bb2 in those backing vocals, though the mix is so brickwalled it's hard to make out any sort of subtle details like that. I've added the notes, though I also noticed he gets a lead Eb5 (not just the backing one you mentioned) in the last chorus around 3:35 on the "THIS is my creed" line.

Sadly I'm really not feeling the tune, but that's pretty par for the course with post 2010s Kamelot. It's got this very stadium pop rock kind of feel (the chorus almost makes me think of Imagine Dragons or something) with the glitchy effects and layered vocals that I don't dig. I did generally like a decent bit of Haven but all the other modern Kamelot albums have far too thoroughly abandoned their riffy power metal roots. If nothing else though it seems they might be letting Karevik use his high range more this time around which is encouraging. It'd be cool to hear a full on Seventh Wonder tier performance from him on a Kamelot album, so I'll keep my ears out for that when the album comes out.

[Zedd Squared]

The notes from the new album have been added. I also added the notes from his recent Epica and Raskasta Joulua guest appearances (though I just skimmed Stars since it's got a bunch of different singers on it and I was running out of focus at that point lol).

As for The Awakening, it's definitely his best album with Kamelot vocally. Musically, it's a mixed bag but does have some of their stronger recent highlights (The Great Divide, Bloodmoon, and The Looking Glass in particular) but I gotta give credit to Karevik for coming more fully into his own and incorporating a wider range of approaches this time. Nice to finally have a lead vocal note below G#2 with the solid G2 in NightSky and he's got more 5th octave notes this time around t oo.

[Hennessy Macklemore III]

Was I Am the Empire – Live from the 013 ever checked for this thread? I might be down to do it at some point if not.

[Zedd Squared]

Nah most of my threads don't have live albums checked. There are a few (Sandra Nasic and Bernie Shaw come to mind) but if they aren't in the album ranges they weren't checked. Feel free to do so though!