ASYMMETRY

Sometimes, you just shouldn't. Karnivool has never been a band that I really enjoy. "Themata" is an excellent album, for sure. Even "Sound Awake" had a few excellent tracks. With their new release "Asymmetry" , I'm struggling to find anything at all that justifies this album's existence. There isn't any inspiration here at all.

Sometimes, you need someone to tell you "no". That's one of the major problems here. Karnivool definitely leans towards the metal side of the heavy prog genre, and so this album is fairly heavy, guitar-driven, and technical as can be. That's right. This album is one of the most technical albums I've ever heard. I'm not even sure that the band stays in the same time signature for more than a few seconds at a time. It's ridiculous! In my opinion, this is not a good thing. Sometimes, you need to stop showboating. The technical emphasis is so strong that the "songs" almost lose their actual musicality! Yes, sometimes I'm not even sure if much of this album can be called music. No melody. No harmony. No restraint. Just an overload of technical crap. The lyrics are all tacked-on, certainly.

The half-way point of the album changes some of these things. We actually get a few slower songs, "Sky Machine" being an example of this. And you know what? "Sky Machine" might be the best song on this album! The album finishes out with a few good tracks that actually elevate this album as a whole. The first half, however, is pretentious and chaotic. It's a mess, to be frank. Sure, it's impressive to a point, but not something I want to hear again. Sometimes, you just need to check yourself.