Karnivool

Like the product of some strange equation involving Dream Theatre multiplied by Gyroscope plus the square root of Pink Floyd, “Sound Awake”, the newest release from Perth band Karnivool is all in all a wild ride. That being said, it is not an album that you can just wack in the car’s CD player and listen to on your way to work. While very moving the album is also extremely complex and “progressive”. Each song has a multitude of sounds mixing and changing, giving the album a sense of depth. However, this means that trying to listen to the whole CD in one sitting is also pretty difficult.

I replayed this CD a number of times before coming to a conclusion and each time I found something new and interesting either in the sounds or in the lyrics. This is an album that you will want to come back to and play over and over again. Each song tessellates into the next track almost seamlessly yet doesn’t make the CD sound like one huge “mega track”. Like the last release from Karnivool “Themata”, there are some tracks that will stand out from the rest of the album and undoubtedly become radio favourites while other tracks will be best appreciated with the rest of album. “Set fire to the hive” springs to mind as one that separate’s itself from the group and I imagine that before too long, we might be hearing this track on a hottest 100 compilation.

If you are already a fan of Karnivool, then you don’t need any encouragement to listen to this album. Likewise if you’re into anything “heavy” that’s been written in the last few years I urge to at least give this album a quick listen. You won’t regret it.