Karnivool
Sound Awake

HONOR TO MERIT

There's nothing to do: if a band has a very good singer, for me, we're already halfway there. And I'm not talking about people squawking in croaky growls followed by Teenpop choruses, which has now become the first rule for selling.
I'm talking about melodies that make you look for the lyrics and learn them by heart, I'm talking about the use of vocal cords at 360°, a technique that goes from whispering to falsetto, passing through clean and non-irritating screams.
I'm talking about Maynard, Boyd, Hayes, Moreno…
Of course, behind them, there must be a band that tries to go beyond, to experiment, and not tread the well-worn paths, so as not to come across the current Hoobastank to feed to TV and Radio.

On a first quick listen, I had indeed labeled them as yet another "alternative" rock band for screaming teenagers. The 10 Years seemed like a suitable comparison: a singer with a similar timbre and a trivialization of the tentacular articulations of Tool.

However, they had "Change pt.2" on their side, with its 10 minutes and a crescendo intro that hypnotizes.
Days went by, and the piece in heavy rotation became "Simple Boy", with an almost Gregorian initial singing, then "Goliath" with its Tool-like bass, nervous guitars, and the singer finally pushing on the bad side.
The day of "New Day" arrives, previously categorically skipped after the first too fawning verse. It's only then that I realize that Karnivool have courage: it could have been a potential hit if it lasted the canonical 3’30”, if the structure of the piece had been the usual verse/chorus/solo/chorus. With its over 7 minutes and continuous changes of atmosphere, the perfect single goes out the window.
Speaking of singles: incredibly, they opted for "Set Fire to the Hive", the most unruly and neurotic of the entire album. I'll spare whoever's managing their marketing because they chose "All I Know" for the second video: almost whispered vocals and dreamy guitars. Well, if this is the Pop track of the album, give us more Pop made with this class.

Not wanting to bring up the usual Tool, to whom Karnivool still owes a debt (even though their rhythm section doesn't even come close to the Carey/Chancellor duo), those who in recent years have appreciated the dreamlike works of Dredg, the maturity of Taproot, and the melodies of compatriots The Butterfly Effect will surely find a valid alternative in Karnivool.

Musically speaking, I really liked the guitar work. The two on the six strings manage to alternate powerful distortions ("Goliath", "The Caudal Lure") with clean and sophisticated sounds ("Umbra", "Deadman"), coloring the atmospheres with warm autumnal hues, with effects bordering on electronic ("Simple Boy").
Their Achilles' heel, if we're being picky, is the drummer: the snare sound is almost toneless and the passages too simple, failing to highlight the tempo changes, diminishing some atmospheres that surely deserved more imagination and, why not, technique (entering almost immediately in 4/4 in the aforementioned "Change" is a sacrilege!).

Even if in the previous Themata (2005) they had abandoned the Nu of the previous EPs (Karnivool 1999 and Persona 2001), creating pieces with articulate and interesting structures but still a tad immature, their move to Sony (!!!) gave them the means to further evolve and offer us a band from distant Australia that's vying to be The Next Big Thing.

If much gives much, with their next work, they risk hitting it big.
I just hope MTV notices them as late as possible....