SOUND AWAKE

I've heard many people think of Karnivool as the Australian equivalent to Tool, and in many respects, I really can't blame people for thinking that, especially on this album. Sound Awake shares many similar traits to much of Tool's material, having a strong alternative metal tinge all throughout, with long, complex song structures that contain many hints of a more accessible, catchy project underneath, where even if a song goes on for 12 minutes, it'll have motifs that immediately grab you and just don't let go. This album is also a far better one than Themata, honing in on the more proggy aspects of their music, creating an album that's far more appealing than the at times annoying or mediocre debut, while also demonstrating their instrumental prowess.

The structure is one aspect of this album that I believe causes it to be so consistently engaging, starting off with 3 of the greatest tracks on the album, especially the opening track, Simple Boy, but then the album still scatters some other of the clear highlights at various places throughout the album, ensuring that there's never a major point in time where it's just filler track after filler track. The passion and incredible melody and bassline on Simple Boy are absolutely perfect for setting up the more grandiose, proggy nature of the album while still showing the fact that the band isn't being alienating at the same time, given how the majority of the focus is directed towards the lovely vocals of Ian Kenny. What instrumental sections are present here are extremely fitting for the song, feeling less like additions to the song to make it more impressive sounding, and more like vital components of the song that are absolutely essential for the flow of it to be as flawless as it is. This song's honestly so good that I feel like I could write an entire long winded paragraph based entirely upon this alone. Goliath is great at showcasing the more heavy side of the band, especially with the mixing having the bass sound about twice as loud as in most other songs, although it works here, the short, sharp bassline perfectly complementing the more intense side of the band, while simultaneously maintaining a lot of the melody that permeates the album. New Day completes this amazing trio of songs with the heartfelt New Day, having a near despondant tone during many parts, but gradually fills out, starting out as primarily acoustic, and by the halfway point evolving into a beautifully textured piece of alternative metal with dizzying drum performances and groovy riffs. The track then further develops by honing in on the prog aspects of the band, the metal riffs morphing into rich, layered instrumentation that is absolutely to die for through and through.

While the album becomes more inconsistent from this point on, with songs like Set Fire to the Hive and The Caudal Lure being cool in their own rights, but nothing too special, the highlights of All I Know, and Umbra, along with the powerful closers of Deadman and Change keep the pace going enough for this to honestly be negligible in a lot of cases, especially since even these more mediocre track tend to have a few points which really stick regardless.Umbra is one of the few cases on the album where the solos and instrumentation are the absolute highlights, maintaining the same kind of tone and feel of the song while differentiating itself enough to be amazingly memorable and entertaining. While Change is the actual closer of the album, it's the triumphant Deadman that feels like a true culmination of the album, with a wild rhythm section heavy with syncopation, morphing throughout, each section becoming more intense and complex, with the 4 four minute mark dropping out to create some more atmospheric moments to contrast with the glorious first section. What makes this part so excellent to me is the repetition of the chorus melody as the melodic motif of the guitars here, but changing it up enough to display it in a completely different light more indicative of more guitar driven progressive rock, rather than full blown metal. This is Karnivool's most accomplished song in my opinion, combining everything great about their sound and approach into an absolutely incredible epic, and perfectly brings the album to a close.

Despite singing my praises about this album to no end here, I do admit that this isn't a perfect album at all, as while I did mention that the track sequencing mitigates the major issues with the filler here, there's still undoubtedly some filler that could have been cut in order to make this a more concise listen, as 72 minutes is a bit much for an album that is fairly similar sounding thorughout. Overall, despite these shortcomings, I still believe that this is a thoroughly enjoyable album and a demonstration of how onecan fuse alternative metal and prog without it sounding like a clumsy or generic mess, although I guess Tool can teach the same lesson. I'd highly recommend this album to showcase the quality that modern prog can have, along with just recommend it in general to those who enjoy guitar driven music with decent complexity to it.

Best tracks: Simple Boy, New Day, Umbra, Deadman

Weakest tracks: Set Fire to the Hive, The Caudal Lure, Illumine

Verdict: A relatively consistent album that could be seen as an Australian equivalent to Tool in many respects relating to their sound, with often long, explorative songs that are packed with melody and complexity while also tapping into the core sound of alt metal. I'd recommend this as long as you're willing to put up with a couple of moments that are a bit drawn out.