Karnivool – The Decade of Sound Awake (Blu-Ray)
Release Date: 10th December 2021
Label: Inside Out Music
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Genre: Progressive Rock, Preogressive Metal.
FFO: Karnivool…duh
Review By: Ben Harris-Hayes
OK…Hands up and palms open.
I was late to the Karnivool hype train, only getting into them about 6-7 years ago. I just never gave them the time they deserved when they came out; purely, because I never had anyone around me who listened to them, which was how I came across a lot of music.
When I did hear a track, I mistook them for another ‘Tool clone’ and it didn’t resonate with me.
Of course, now I’ve actually grown some balls, formed my own opinions and given them the time they deserve…I can safely say that I am a converted and most repentant sinner!
This DVD release marks, well, a decade of the ‘Sound Awake’ album and was a reaction to the cancellation of a celebratory tour for the band.
Realising that doing nothing in the wake of the tour cancellation was a negative reaction, the band decided to set up camp at the Health Ledger Theatre in Perth and do a full-production streamed performance for their fans, which in turn, was then unanimously requested by their fanbase to be released.
Playing to an empty theatre comes across as weird initially, but when the band are taking you away on their progressive musings…this doesn’t seem to matter.
‘Simple Boy’ opens things with its notes of heavily distorted bass and delayed-soaked riffage, which sets the, ahem, ‘tone’ for things to come.
‘Goliath’ chunky assault on the senses coming next, with the band firmly on fire. Strobes set in time to the triplet guitar riff and the seamless rhythm section nailing it, seemingly without effort.
A personal fave of mine, ‘A New Day’ hits home particularly hard in this performance and embodies everything the band do well.
It’s during this track that the onstage curtain drops and reveals the empty theatre, which temporarily reminds us that the band are playing to no-one there and that eerie reminder of a pandemic comes back to us again.
Vocalist, Ian Kenney, really does have a fantastic set of pipes on him and effortlessly delivers the tracks like it was only yesterday that he wrote the parts.
(The vocal harmonies delivered by the band are superb through-out)
Perhaps my least enjoyed track on the album, ‘Set Fire To The Hive’ still sounds good in this setting.
The Tool-influence is apparent on the palm-muted riffs of ‘Umbra’, but it’s the main riff that still utterly crushes me every time. And this is displayed fully in the epic outro as that riff slowly crawls out the speaker.
‘All I Know’ is just an epic slab of accessible yet deceptively technical rock and the performance by the collective on this track serves to remind us what a fantastic live proposition Karnivool are.
Further props and respect go out to drummer, Steve Judd, and bassist, Jon Stockman, who effortlessly drive things along and we so unnoticeable in this performance in the sense that everything they did was SO DAMN BANG ON.
…And that, to me, is the sign of a fantastic rhythm section.
The epic pull of ‘The Caudal Lure’ is particularly magical with its awesome “Where’s your God?” outro vocal section.
The 12-minute movement of ‘Deadman’ is another highlight of this DVD and I think I watched it 2-3 times in a row.
The album closer, ‘Change’, sees Ian Kenny standing amongst the empty seats of the theatre with a didgeridoo performer appearing on stage, which takes it all up another notch.
The band then slide seamlessly into some fan favourites, which is great to hear and see.
First up in this section is ‘Fade’, from the 2005 ‘Persona’ EP, which is just head-noddingly joyous with it’s grooving undercurrent.
‘Roquefort’ from the Themata album is up next, with the excellent horn section performance, which were originally supplied, I believe, by the guys from the brilliant Cat Empire; which is a lovely touch.
‘Aeons’ from 2013’s Asymmetry greets us next with it’s synth-pedal loveliness; which only highlights what a brilliant set of guitarists, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking are, with their mastery of the plethora of FX pedals they have onstage with them.
The band close this great show by treating the fans to a new track in the form ‘All It Takes’, which is another rhythmical workout with Ian Kenny asking“Are you close enough? To see what you got yourself into?” over the top.
Being that this is their first new material in many years, it bodes well for whatever they get up to next.
OK, so after all this lyrical waxing…it’s time to sum things up, and the only way to do that is to say that this DVD is cracking.
I thoroughly recommend it, not only to Karnivool fans, but any rock fans who want to watch how it’s done by a truly professional band.
Sure, without the fans being there; it is a little weird but honestly, the band are firing on all cylinders with a nitro injection bursting throughout, that it’s not noticed.
Cracking stuff.
(4.5 / 5)
