Album Review: Karnivool – Asymmetry

Karnivool vocalist Ian Kenny. Photo: Monisha Ajgaonkar

[easyreview cat1title = Asymmetry cat1rating = 4]

Asymmetry album art

“These words of wisdom come with lack of vision,” mourns Ian Kenny, vocalist of Aussie prog mind-benders Karnivool on lead single “We Are.” There’s the overall theme of doom and gloom on their third album, Asymmetry, but it’s not just downtuned riffs from Andrew Goddard and Mark Hosking. They strike hardest and fastest on “The Refusal,” but there are way too many layers on this album to palate in one listen.

From the probably-India-inspired “Aum” and “Om” intro and outro tracks to the glitchy loop set to droning guitars on “Asymmetry,” you can hear Karnivool pushing themselves to explore unknown territory. As they are wont to do, they don’t make it easy on the listener. You’d need at least four or five listens to go beyond the pop favorites ”“ “We Are” and “The Last Few.” But if you take the effort to put it on repeat because that’s how every prog rock band comes to be appreciated, there’s a world of complex diversity on Asymmetry ”“ from the technical madness of songs like “Nachash” and “Sky Machine,” to the more thematic gelling between lyrics and music on “Aeons” [where Kenny resumes his prophecy, “Chemical fires will signal we’re dead.”].

Karnivool have also been playing bigger venues to bigger audiences, which is our theory of why the album is titled Asymmetry ”“ there are epic rock moments on “Alpha Omega” meeting detailed grooves in ridiculous time signatures, something that puts Karnivool in a place shared by few other prog rock bands.

Asymmetry needs listening to, but not just once or twice, or a certain set of songs. This one will take time sinking in, but will stick with you.

Key tracks: “The Refusal,” “Aeons,” “The Last Few.”

This review appeared in the September 2013 issue of ROLLING STONE India.