Fifteen years after walking away from Kamelot at the height of his career, Roy Khan is finally ready to step out under his own name. The former frontman — now also the returning voice of Conception — has confirmed to Rockpages.gr that his debut solo album is in progress, tentatively targeting a late 2026 or early 2027 release. And for anyone wondering whether he’s mellowed out: he hasn’t.
“It’s definitely gonna be metal, for sure,” Khan told interviewer Yiannis Dolas (transcribed by Blabbermouth). “That’s one of the reasons why I love this genre, is the melancholy and the heavy guitars. It’s a must-have. But I’m also walking on the brighter and lighter side of life on some songs, but it’s definitely gonna be metal. But I have other song ideas and songs that don’t really fit this genre that well. I could, of course, adapt them to fit an album of this kind.”
As for why it’s taken this long to go solo, Khan points to the Conception reunion, the pandemic, and finally landing the right team around him: “I’m not sure I have any good answer to that. One answer is, of course, Conception, ’cause [we] reunited in 2016. That’s when we started really looking into making new songs and getting into a new production. And after that, I’ve been pretty busy. We’ve also had the pandemic, and a couple of years just disappeared. And now I’ve found a good group of people that I feel complement me in a good way. And I’m looking forward to do a new album, that’s for sure.”
The material draws on a stockpile that runs deeper than you might expect: “Some of these ideas go way back, like way back. And they weren’t used in the past either because we had the stuff we needed or somebody else in the team didn’t like it, or didn’t feel that it fit style-wise. It’s a good mix of new stuff and old stuff. And also old stuff that is modified and changed somehow.”
The collaborative backbone of the record is Caio Kehyayan, guitarist for Brazilian outfit Firewing, who Khan describes as central to the whole endeavour: “I play the guitar, and I play the piano, but it’s always good to have somebody that can really, really play, so you can get the ideas out and they may have some ideas. So some songs I’ve written with other people, which is a big part of the fun of doing this at all… There’s one guy who is a big part of it. That’s Caio Kehyayan. He plays in the Brazilian band Firewing. He’s been extremely helpful, and he’s good with recording technology and stuff like that. So, that’s really cool. And he’s a creative and really talented guitar player. I’m looking forward [to it]. I’m also bringing him [to perform with me] live.”
Production duties fall to Sascha Paeth — the man behind the boards for some of Kamelot‘s most celebrated records, including The Fourth Legacy, Karma, Epica, and The Black Halo — with co-production from Kehyayan and Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires, both of whom have also contributed to the songwriting. Bill Hudson, known for his work with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I Am Morbid, and Circle II Circle, is among the additional writers on board.
The reunion with Paeth is no accident. His fingerprints are all over the sound that made Khan a household name in the power metal world, and this record looks every bit like a deliberate effort to pick up a thread that’s been left dangling since 2011. Khan‘s departure from Kamelot that year came after years of accumulating damage — relentless touring, a growing family, and a lifestyle he’s since described as unsustainable. The years that followed took Khan in an unexpected direction. He settled in Moss, Norway, joined a church, and underwent what he described as a fundamental shift in perspective.
He returned to the stage last July at Tokio Marine Hall in São Paulo for a one-night-only celebration of The Black Halo‘s 20th anniversary, backed by members of Brazilian prog-metal band Maestrick and joined on select tracks by Adrienne Cowan.
The solo album doesn’t have a title yet. But between Paeth on production, a guitarist he trusts enough to bring on the road, and a drawer full of ideas that stretch back decades, Khan sounds less like a man making a tentative return and more like one who’s finally ready to say something on his own terms.
