Music review: Karnivool
Perth prog-rockers Karnivool heated up Adelaide on a cold Tuesday night, proving their new album deserves every bit of the fanfare earned by their previous records, and cementing their evolution into a stadium act.
I remember the first time I heard Themata, the title track off Karnivool’s debut album.
I can even remember the street I was driving down when I happened to catch the song on Triple J.
Complex prog-rock time signatures, the tension of exotic riff scales overlaid with Ian Kenny’s soaring vocals – I’d never heard anything like it.
That was in 2005. Since then, I’ve seen the ‘vool perform in Adelaide several times – from Thebarton Theatre to the old HQ, and even the now-defunct Black Market during their Themata era.
But the boys from WA have come a long way from those early days.
And despite many memorable shows across 20 years, the band released only three records in two decades (very good records).
Fans came to accept that an epic Karnivool album was simply worth the wait.
So on Tuesday night, when Karnivool returned to Adelaide to tour its fourth record, IN VERSES, this time to thousands of fans at Adelaide Entertainment Centre’s theatre stage, anticipation was high.
The album – the group’s first in 13 years – has already topped the ARIA charts.
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But, on the live stage, would the IN VERSES tracks stack up against the cult favourites?
Predictably, the classics did stir the crowd to erupt into its rowdiest moments.
But the story of the evening was the new setlist – a goosebump-inducing evolution.
The band’s new material – produced by long-time collaborator Forrester Savell – takes a departure from its previous, darker album Asymmetry, to create a whole new fourth chapter.
The night kicked off with Ghost – the first track off the new album – followed by Simple Boy, Aozora and Goliath.
One of the best in the business, Steve Judd’s percussion outro to Aozora was epic.
Drone, arguably the catchiest of the new material, was lapped up by the crowd as radical squiggly green sound waves played on the giant backing screen. Drew Goddard’s phat fuzz riff punched through the soundscape.
As he did throughout the set, Kenny took to the drum riser for the pre-chorus in We Are – the only track from Asymmetry – with the song fading out to a haunting backlight through smoky haze.
New track Conversations hit hard, alright. The screen played footage of outback Australia, overlaid by live shots of the musicians, elevating the band’s live show to a level we haven’t seen before in Adelaide.
Kenny rounded the drum riser to the other side and commanded the stage before the song closed out with melting red graphics interwoven with more live footage of the band.
Conversations ended with a rollicking prog outro with Kenny and Hosking up on the drum stage either side of Judd, before Goddard played out the final bars of guitar under spotlight.
Proving the band hasn’t lost its bite, the heaviest of the new tracks All It Takes romped with a crazy evil-green lighting backdrop.
Hosking punished a single droning guitar note (a passionate expression on his dial, of course) and to the other side of the stage Goddard wailed on the wah pedal, laying a solo in the mix. Judd punished his cymbals through the outro.
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Then, a 47-string harp appeared on stage, as harpist Michelle Smith played an instrumental introduction to the track Animation – set against a giant image of a bare tree on a desolate landscape.
Again on the drum riser, Kenny cut a silhouette against the giant tree on the screen.
The iconic Themata rolled straight into Roquefort, as the crowd went nuts and the light show pumped, washing the stage in red and white.
Each musician riffed these 21-year-old songs with as much passion as ever.
Goddard, Hosking and Kenny joined together in the three-part harmony, before Roquefort finished with the syncopated triplet guitar chug.
Harpist Smith returned for New Day, which rounded out the set. How the delicate sound of the harp survived the heavy soundscape is anyone’s guess.
Chaotic strobing lights punctuated the bridge of New Day with Kenny back up on the riser; the crowd going nuts for this song-along.
To kick off the encore, the harpiest re-emerged on stage to play a haunting introduction to Opal.
The night was rounded out with the eight-minute-long Salva – with Goddard wielding a silver telecaster – and the song’s finale seeing the band joined on stage by a live bagpiper player.
We can only assume the mystery bagpiper is Hosking’s cousin Grant Scroggie, who recorded the pipes in the studio.
The choice of songs for the finale was a major flex by the ‘vool –showing that these emotive numbers could become epic fan favourites in the same ilk as COTE or Deadman.
The only problem with new material is that it comes at the sacrifice of some absolute bangers from the setlist.
No doubt there would have been some intense discussion about this tour – leaving out fan favourites such as Deadman, Change and the cult singalong COTE – but the show was richer for it. Opal and Salva hit differently – deep, emotive and melodic.
It’s a new day for the band who, after 21 years, showed that their passion is as alive as ever. We can only hope this bodes well for more albums in years to come.
Just don’t hold your breath!
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