SOUND AWAKE

With Sound Awake, Karnivool has jumped straight to the top of my list of bands to watch out for. Their first full-length album Themata is definitely a great album, but it's got more of an Alternative Metal (and even at times Nu Metal) vibe than this album does. Sound Awake is still a hard rocking album in many aspects, but the band seems more willing to experiment with new formulas this time around.

Each song on the album has an identity of its own, which unfortunately I can not say for many of the songs on their previous album. Whilst overall Themata is a shorter album than Sound Awake, a lot of the songs sound similar to one another and it tends to drag a bit during the later half. Clocking in at an hour and twelve minutes, Sound Awake is a significantly longer album than their first, but thankfully it manages to avoid the filler.

Karnivool can still belt out some really hard rocking tunes, such as "Set Fire to the Hive" with its manic drumming, grungy guitars, and angry vocals. The band has also started to branch out and craft some longer, less straightforward pieces, such as "New Day" and "Change".

Whether or not this band is truly "progressive" can be argued, but I feel that they've got plenty to offer the world of progressive rock, and this is definitely a modern masterpiece in my book.