Michael Ernsts’ Excalibur is a fine example of why reviewers should always take time to listen to an entire album and not skip through the first couple of tracks and then decide whether an album is hot or not. The first couple of tracks on this album sound very promising. The narrator on the opening track “The King Of Swords”, Duncan Larkin for example is among the best I’ve ever heard. The album starts out with nice and expressive rhythms. The use of flutes (probably keyboards) really adds to the atmosphere of minstrel music. One of the first things that becomes clear during the first tracks is that this album is heavily vocal orientated. Most of the vocal melodies are highly original and still very catchy. This is the albums strongest selling point. The sound on Excalibur is best described as a seventies rock opera with a lot of ballads.

A band that immediately pops into mind is Kansas. So far so good...

The trouble with Excalibur starts with track ten, “People Shall Be Free” and lasts until the final track “Every Dream Will Have It’s Day”. For some obscure reason Ernst decided that this would be the time and the place to start some hip experiments. At first one might consider the rap or hip hop vocals combined with sixties music original, but when he adds Vengaboys refrains he loses every credibility. In conclusion, Excalibur starts promising with nice vocal orientated orchestral rock, but falls into a strange and unsuccessful attempt to be hip. The rating of the album drops from a 7.5 to a 5.5.