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IN A PERFECT WORLD

Karmakanic

Symphonic Prog


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Karmakanic In a Perfect World album cover
3.62 | 216 ratings | 9 reviews | 20% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2011

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. 1969 (14:14)
2. Turn It Up (6:55)
3. The World Is Caving In (9:00)
4. Can't Take It with You (5:44)
5. There's Nothing Wrong with the World (7:23)
6. Bite the Grit (4:59)
7. When Fear Came to Town (9:55)
8. Turn It Up (radio edit) (4:39)

Total Time 62:49

Bonus video on 2011 enhanced CD:
9. Send a Message from the Heart (22:34)

Line-up / Musicians

- Göran Edman / vocals
- Krister Jonsson / electric & acoustic guitars
- Lalle Larsson / keyboards, backing vocals
- Nils Erikson / keyboards, vocals
- Jonas Reingold / fretted & fretless basses, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, arranger & producer
- Marcus Liliequist / drums

With:
- Inger Ohlén / backing vocals (1,3)

Releases information

Artwork: Patrik Larsson

CD Inside Out Music ‎- IOMSECD 346 (2011, Europe) With 2 bonus tracks on CDROM section

Thanks to rivertree for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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KARMAKANIC In a Perfect World ratings distribution


3.62
(216 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(20%)
20%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(48%)
48%
Good, but non-essential (29%)
29%
Collectors/fans only (2%)
2%
Poor. Only for completionists (1%)
1%

KARMAKANIC In a Perfect World reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by memowakeman
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Swedish symphonic delicacy!

The name of The Flower Kings will spring to our minds while listening to Karmakanic, it is obvious, because this is the project of gifted bass player Jonas Reingold, member of TFK. Karmakanic saw the light in the early 00s, and so far have released four studio albums. This one is entitled "In A Perfect World" and actually is about to be released in a few days, but fortunately and thanks to Freeman Promotions we could listen to it before.

While listening to the album, we will find evident Flower Kings reminiscences, but also the Yes influence is noticeable in several parts, mostly for the vocals and bass sound. So with that combination, as you can imagine here you will have a feast of pure symphonic progressive rock. Be prepared to this seven-track album and enjoy almost one hour of this first-class Swedish music.

It starts with "1969", which is an ambitious introduction, a long epic that reaches the fourteen minutes and serves as the explanation of the album line. Here I like a lot the rhythm, it is always constant, producing exquisite sounds and creating wonderful passages. The bass sound is pretty good and noticeable, I dare say is the first thing you actually listen here. Keyboards play a main role here, as background or with solos, they give a special flavor to the sound. I like the different moments of this epic, the bombastic ones, and the calmer ones, all together create a strong unit, a strong introduction.

"Turn it up" has a softer sound, nice melodic rhythms and a catchy chorus. Here I cannot help but thinking of both, Spock's Beard and once again, Yes. The music here is not that complex as the previous one, the sound tends to be friendlier and easier to dig. A good song, but by no means the best of the album.

"The World is Caving in" starts with 45 seconds of a capella, then piano joins and create a soft melody for two minutes. Then there is a change when drums and keyboards enter, so the music changes direction and becomes heavier for moments, though it always slows down and keep that gentle sound. After four minutes there is a very nice keyboard solo. And in the rest of the time the song repeats itself, making an interesting piece, but for some reason I am not that enthusiastic with this track in particular.

"Can't take it with you" is a very curious track, seems that the progressive rock element is forgotten due to that introductory piano and percussion sound that creates a kind of latin- american or bossa-nova sound, but it is a tricky one because later it becomes chaotic and with the rock element on it, more interesting. This shorter song may have been a risked experimentation, because I believe you either love it, or hate it. The normal voice is pretty good, but what I totally disliked were those vocals saying la la la, horrible.

"There's Nothing Wrong With the World" is one of the finest tracks of the album. The bass sound is lovely, always present as a main character, creating good lines and helping building up the structure. The keyboard work is also excellent, adding different atmospheres that at the same time create images and mind passages. The keyboard solo at half the song is short but great, and greater the way the song changes and introduces new elements.

"Bite the Grit" has a dreamy atmosphere and a peculiar sound at first, but later it changes to a tense and maybe dramatic sound that lasts only for some seconds. Then the song returns to its original proposal, and keep making some changes every once in a while. The guitar work is great here; too bad this is the shortest song, I believe it could have been more exploded.

Finally "When Fear Came to Town" completes the album. In this ten minutes you will have a different Karmakanic sound, not that symphonic one we are used to. It is complemented by some other unusual rhythms. Like in the beginning, we listen to a soft acoustic guitar accompanied by delicate vocals, giving the impression of being a ballad. At first I thought it would eventually explode, but I was wrong. The same soft rhythm is kept until four minutes where it makes a change. Vocals disappear and a dreamy sound prevails, sharing a melancholic feeling. The last two minutes have nice guitar and drums, and open the exit gates, I mean, you know the album is finishing.

Well, I did not find this album as extraordinary as I though. The opener track gave me high expectations, but in spite of the cool songs, in moments I felt it inconsistent, so it did not catch the attention, nor the love I would have liked to have for it. For that, my final grade will be 3 stars..

Enjoy it!

Review by Rivertree
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Band Submissions
3 stars KARMAKANIC are Jonas Reingold's special musical project, where he's responsible for the whole thing, speaking of song-writing, recording and production. So if you will, in this case, you may also call him the boss in the factory again. 'KARMAKANIC is always a result of everything that I enjoy in music' he explains ... well, then you have to await a very private insight of course. Being a member since 1999, no wonder that The Flower Kings influences are to recover overall. But there is much more to explore, one should not expect a strong symphonic rock effort. I can't get rid of the impression that he doesn't care much about the question if he's offering a pure prog album or not.

Besides his skillful bass handling 'In A Perfect World' proves that Jonas is a prolific songwriter too. And he's supported by an excellent crew as usual where I first of all want to point out Göran Edman's wonderful vocal contributions. I was very impressed by the forerunner album ... inspiration is still existent after three years, however dressed in new clothes so to say! 'We shall overcome ... how the world is changing' - 1969 - this song is pointing to the very start I assume. I surprisingly hear strong Yes reminiscences again and again. An epic one and album highlight for sure.

With the melodic Turn it up they turn away into more popular fields similar to Asia for example. On The world is caving in I hear some strong Whitesnake/Deep Purple hints and the excellent Can't take it with you surprises with a mix of Latin/Merengue and hard riffing guitars - very ambitious - don't know why but this immediately reminded me of the Pain Of Salvation song 'Disco Queen'. There's nothing wrong with the world then returns back to the symphonic Flower Kings approach, this time including nice guitar and keyboard solos.

It took some time to sort out this cornucopia of impressions. What I hear are more song oriented compositions with less soloing instruments, not that complex as usual, a conglomerate of various music influences which Jonas works out in his own manner. With Göran Edman on top the balladesque When fear came to town rounds up a good album, compared to the masterpiece 'Who's the boss in the Factory?' less challenging though and a bit inconsistent in order to range on the same level - 3.5 stars.

Review by Nightfly
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars In A Perfect World, album number four from Karmakanic, while being a solid effort pretty much finds the band treading water and is somewhat of a disappointment after the excellent Who's The Boss In The Factory?

It's business as usual as they churn out more Flower Kings like (not surprising given band leader Jonas Reingold's also a member of that band) modern symphonic prog though with a more commercial approach at times. The epic Send A Message From The Heart was a great opener and career highlight on the last album. They try it again here with 1969, some Yes influences coming through, but it lacks the strong melodies and exciting instrumental work of the former and has to be content with being just above average and never really takes off. There are stronger moments however with Turn It Up having an insistent melody and The World Is Caving In after a quiet start turns into quite a powerful piece. Can't take It With You combines latin influences with heavier elements to quite good effect. When Fear Came To Town from a tedious acoustic opening, despite its ten minute length never really goes anywhere as it develops into a mellow and tasteful instrumental.....and so it goes, you get the idea.

Overall an average album from great musicians but with nothing to set it above hundreds of other modern symphonic albums it's unlikely to widen Karmakanic's fanbase to any great extent. 2 ˝ stars.

Review by Evolver
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
4 stars Up ontil now, I only knew this band from "Who's The Boss In The Factory", a good, but not great album. This one takes a step up in a few places, with an occasional step back. But overall, I like it a bit more than the previous album.

First, the good parts. 1969 is a beautiful prog epic, that sounds very much like a Flower Kings piece. I don't consider that a bad thing. I find that it surpasses Send A Message From The Heart from the previous album, by containing all of the wonder, but avoiding the schmaltz of that song. Can't Take It With You is another high point. This latin flavored song is just so much fun, it's irresistable. And Bite The Grit is a nice heavy prog piece.

As for the bad, Turn It Up leads the charge. It sounds like something Trevor Rabin might have pushed Yes to do during their pop years. And to make matters worse, there is a radio edit of the song at the end of the album that has any parts that held any interest in the full version lopped off.

The other aspect that bugs me is placing When Fear Came To Town at the end of the album. I prefer albums that end with a bang, not a whimper. This song, while not bad, is too light, and doesn't leave me wanting to come back for more.

My CD also has a video, a documentary piece called Send A Message From The Heart. It's a not bad overview of the band, but it's not the type of thing I'd watch repeatedly.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Latest members reviews

3 stars Karmakanic is a great prog band and after hearing Who's The Boss In The Factory, I anticipated much. The good thing is, that with In A Perfect World the band went on to explore new grounds and and didn't try to recreate what had been done by them before. This album has its heavy parts and dissonanc ... (read more)

Report this review (#2188378) | Posted by Jundrix | Friday, April 26, 2019 | Review Permanlink

4 stars To hear one of my biggest Swedish favourites from the nineties, Nils Erikson, on a Karmakanic-album is like a gift from heaven! He's so very welcome back!! IAPW is a grower which is finding its way into my cd-player almost every day right now. It's not as challenging as WTBITF? but equally very ... (read more)

Report this review (#508050) | Posted by Tobbe J | Wednesday, August 24, 2011 | Review Permanlink

4 stars I have always been a fan of progressive rock, but I came at it from a more commercial angle with the more mainstream tones of Genesis in the late 70's and the ever-changing sound and line-ups of Yes from this time. As I have got older my tastes have changed somewhat. I have listened to a lot o ... (read more)

Report this review (#501557) | Posted by Richens | Thursday, August 11, 2011 | Review Permanlink

4 stars A trully masterpiece in nowadays prog !!! Mood changes, heavy and sweet. Good lyrics. I love the Sweeds. This is almost like a rhyme. Buy this album, you won't regret it. I Saw this band, in a different line-up in a double concert at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Holland, together with Agents o ... (read more)

Report this review (#492438) | Posted by Frans Verweij | Friday, July 29, 2011 | Review Permanlink

3 stars Strangely enough and despite of this type of music being my favorite music, this is my first exposure to this Swedish band's music. Karmakanic is a band run by the bassist in Flower Kings and is regarded as a family member of the Flower Kings family. Something which is pretty evident on parts ... (read more)

Report this review (#484237) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Sunday, July 17, 2011 | Review Permanlink

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