Karnivool – In Verses

Progressive Metal | Alternative Rock

81%

 

Some friendships endure all barriers of time and distance. You can be separated for years on end, entire oceans between you, and within moments of being reunited you’re able to slot back into each other’s lives as though no time had passed at all. Connections like that are hard to come by, and warrant being cherished. Sadly, most of the friendships we forge across our lives are fleeting affairs, mere matters of convenience. We make friends at school, at uni, at various jobs etc. by virtue of being around each other all the time. We move on to some new phase of our lives, meet new people, forge new friendships, then the old ones tend to fade as time passes. That’s not to say they weren’t important, or meaningful, or there when we needed them. Simply that most connections require a basic level of effort and communication if they’re to grow, or even just remain intact.  

The progressive metal scene appears to have a bit of a running trend going of bands making long awaited returns after a lengthy hiatus. Both Tool and Porcupine Tree recently returned with new albums after over a dozen years of relative radio silence. Though I think few fans will hold up either record as their respective band’s best work, the general mood was one of celebration and triumph. Hearing new music that you’d long since given hope of ever seeing the light of day; reconnecting with a band you love, like one of those reunions with an old friend where it feels like no time has passed.

Australian prog outfit Karnivool have pulled a similar return with In Verses – their first record in over a dozen years – however, with one key difference. Tool and PT were two of the biggest names in the genre, riding high at the peak of their power, when they stepped away from releasing new music. Though Karnivool have made some great records, with 2009’s Sound Awake in particular being a much loved cult classic, they weren’t as high profile, nor was their sound as well defined, as the big hitters. They were the band you’d check out in an attempt to fill the void, while you were waiting for the big names to return. Rather than a reunion with an old friend, where you jump straight back in to long enduring in-jokes and reminiscing on the good times, it feels more like bumping into someone you know and completely blanking on what to talk about. This record for me was essentially like having to meet Karnivool again for the first time. 

For what it’s worth though, this is one hell of a second first meeting. The vocals soar, the bass hits hard enough to rattle your bones, the riffs snarl and slink away like a wolf prowling in the mist, and the phenomenal drum work brings a wealth of energy and expression. By far the record’s greatest strength though is how dynamic it feels; the interplay between heavy and atmospheric moments. Opening track ‘Ghost’ does a superb job using this to get you hooked right out of the gate. The riffs rage and writhe, bludgeoning you with this menacing wall of sound, threatening to boil over at any minute. Then they fall silent. Just fade away. In their place this quiet interlude of delicate notes and quiet complex drumming revels in a moment of calm, before slowly building back up. I think the finest parts of In Verses lie in its quiet and considered moments, but I acknowledge that they wouldn’t have nearly as much impact without the menacing metal to contrast against. That moment where the quiet kicks in feels like the brief instant of weightlessness that comes before a sudden drop.  

This record is an absolute banquet for prog fans. ‘Animation’ has a dark groove that feel like classic Tool, and the revamped cut of ‘All It Takes’ gives the gutsy Djent riffs some extra oomph. The crisp, clean vocals in ‘Salva’ remind me of their countryman in Caligula’s Horse, while the way the moody atmosphere on ‘Conversations’ steps back to allow the vocals and the intricate drumming to take the spotlight reminds me a lot of modern Leprous. Karnivool have put out a great record – maybe even their best – but it doesn’t have a clear identity of its own outside of gathering elements from other bands I love. Maybe in another timeline, that decade or so on hiatus would have been spent forging a more unique sound over a number of records. In Verses still feels like the kind of album you use to tide yourself over until your favourite bands return – albeit, one so well crafted that you don’t mind if they take a little longer.