KAMELOT have issued the following update:

"Submissions for The Poisoned Pen Contest are now over. We have received over 1,000 entries! Due to the massive amount of emails to go through we will announce a winner within 7 days, stay tuned."

Guitarist Thomas Youngblood: "I am blown away by the talented and wonderful poems sent in. We will read each and everyone of them, and have a group vote on the final five winners.”

Another exciting contest is coming soon that includes a free ESP Eclipse Guitar as a grand prize. More details on that in the near future.

As previously reported, during a recent interview for BW&BK; (found here), Youngblood revealed how the band ended up bringing JON OLIVA'S PAIN / SAVATAGE frontman Jon Oliva on board for the song 'The Zodiac, featuring on Kamelot's new record Poetry For The Poisoned:

“We sent the text to Jon with the basic melody and he put his signature style on the phrasing. He’s such a cool guy. Having him on that song is surreal for me because I grew up watching Avatar, which of course became Savatage. We actually did a festival not too long ago with Jon Oliva’s Pain and we were headlining, which was weird (laughs). But that’s just the way the business part of this goes.”
“It’s very cool having Jon on the album, and it was actually a last minute thing where I thought ‘Hey, maybe I should ask Jon Oliva to do this…’ because the melody in the second verse just reminded me so much of Savatage. On the other hand, Roy didn’t grow up with Savatage as a kid – I think he was more of a Queensryche / A-Ha kind of guy as a kid – so it really was a fit of inspiration.”

Click here for more.

Kamelot recently revealed new Poetry For The Poisoned top 10/40/100 chart entries:

USA Billboard Hard Charts - #6

Norway - #7

USA Billboard Indie Charts - #15

Sweden - #23

Germany - #32

Netherlands - #43

Switzerland - #48

Austria - #57

Belgium - #64

USA Billboard Top 200 - #74

Poetry For The Poisoned, was recorded at Gate Studios in Wolfsburg, Germany with producers Sascha Paeth and Miro and features guest appearances by Simone Simons (EPICA), Gus G. (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIREWIND), Björn “Speed” Strid (SOILWORK) and Jon Oliva (SAVATAGE, JON OLIVA’S PAIN). The album is available in three versions - Regular CD edition, Digipak CD with bonus DVD and 2LP gatefold vinyl edition.

DVD bonus material:

- Kamelot video 'The Great Pandemonium'
- Exclusive and in depth Interviews with each Kamelot member
- Kamelot “Pick and Play” for the song 'The Great Pandemonium'
- Poetry For The Poisoned background Images
- Exclusive video footage from Norway Rock Festival 2010
- Bonus song 'House On A Hill' (uncut version)

Marquee/Avalon Records will release the album in Japan (date TBC).

Poetry For The Poisoned tracklisting:

'The Great Pandemonium

'If Tomorrow Came

'Dear Editor

'The Zodiac

'Hunter’s Season

'House On A Hill

'Necropolis

'My Train Of Thoughts

'Seal Of Woven Years

'Poetry For The Poisoned':

- Pt. I - 'Incubus'
- Pt. II - 'So Long'
- Pt. III - 'All Is Over'
- Pt. IV - 'Dissection'

'Once Upon A Time'

Check out a track-by-track breakdown of the album from BW&BK;'s Mark Gromen at this location.