Progress. If there is one word to neatly sum up the implicit expectation we have of our bands and artists then it is surely progress. To hear a band grow, develop, reach and achieve is surely one of the principal pleasures of being a fan. If that assertion is true, then the new album from progressive rock band Karnivool is an unqualified, major success.
Asymmetry is the Australian band’s first new material in four years. They have, for the most part, put to one side the immediacy of previous release Sound Awake but its place you’re treated to a much broader palette of songs and musicianship. Aysmmetry is a sprawling, dense and often uncompromising album that thrills and beguiles in equal measure. How does it sound? It sounds brilliant. Karnivool have taken everything they know and love and honed it superbly; they have crafted a record of intelligent ambition, often inspired song construction and brilliant aural soundscapes from evocative start to plaintive finish.
Over the past four years, this band have clearly grown and developed. Never less than interesting, with Asymmetry they have now become a fascinating, enthralling enterprise, full of emotional charge, resolve and insight. There is a lot going on here: it is a record that runs the gamut of ideas and emotions. And back again. It rocks like a proverbial one, to boot.
Vocalist Ian Kenny has matured into one of the more interesting vocalists at work today; his ability to slip from broken emotion- as on the haunting ‘Sky Machine’, through outright defiance that you get on ‘The Refusal’ to narrator of skill and grace on the superlative ‘Aeons’ is a masterclass in how the voice can make or break a record. This is not a solo record though- the technical playing and the virtuosity on display from the rest of the band will have you doffing your cap, proverbial or otherwise. On the brilliant ‘Eilodon’, for example I can hear echoes of Synchronicity era Police (which, as anyone with a brain should know, is high praise indeed) as well as stirring rock music that will compete effortlessly with any modern day progressive rock masters. Likewise, the incidental vignettes such as ‘Amusia’ or ‘Aum’ give you a scintillating glimpse of the new territories that the band are wanting to explore. Across the record though, the overwhelming sense you’re left with is how much the band have simply upped their game.
You’re going to be playing Asymmetry a lot; in fact, I reckon you’re going to love it. It will, I wager, be living long on your iPod and will, in all probability, have you grinning from ear to ear at the sheer effortless brilliance on display. That, most assuredly, is progress indeed.
8.5/10
Mat Davies