Something about a muggy, storm-brewing afternoon sent me back to the atmospheric hard rock of KarnivoolKarnivool’s Sound Awake, released in the U.S. back in February. Orchestrated guitar riffs, warning siren keyboards, and rusty-and-angular percussion all swirl the sky on tracks like “Goliath.” The humidity drives everybody to the edge on “Set Fire to the Hive.” Karnivool makes music for a city pushed to riot or celebrate or so combination of both even while a vicious tornado is about to drop down out of the spinning clouds. “Umbra,” a blues-touched ballad, finds you standing at the top of a hill calling out about the scene or perhaps hiding away, “I’ll sleep ‘til it’s over.” On “Illumine,” the crashing hail cuts a mean groove rhythm on the roof.

At 12 minutes long, “Deadman” takes the atmospheric world of the Church with the addition of Prog Rock. Then again it’s also like Gooding in how it grooves along its epic path. After nearly seven minutes, the lyrics declare, “I don’t want this to end,” and indeed, the song starts building again until the 10 minute mark when it all disappears. Chimes and a breathy vocal, carried by a Pink Floyd/The Wall-like guitar lick, lead right into the album’s last track, “Change.”

“Change” opens with noise and riffs as if from Jan Hammer and the Miami Vice soundtrack done through a hard rock lens. It would make a gritty scene of Sonny Crockett coming out from being undercover, shaking off the necessary high, and trying to remember who he was.

Karnivool
Sony Music (Australia)’s Karnivool site