It is truly heartening to see a band like Karnivool top the album charts in their home country, especially when the record in question is as suffocating and challenging as ‘Asymmetry’. While the UK continues its love affair with faceless post-punk, Australia has quietly developed an alternative rock scene that not only blows it out of the water, but actually commands a sizable market.
The likes of Dead Letter Circus and Cog aren't far behind, but Karnivool are the daddies of the scene. Their first album, 'Themata', exhibited the band's anthemic qualities but its follow-up, 'Sound Awake', was a much more drawn out affair, with long instrumental passages and polyrhythmic patterns. On 'Asymmetry' the emphasis is, again, as much on a sonically impressive sound as on the songwriting.
‘Asymmetry’ marks another slight change in direction, with apocalyptic lyrics, distorted bass work and harsh guitar sounds to the fore, but Karnivool also seem to have made a concerted effort to temper their excesses.
There is an overarching restraint in the instrumentation, and also in Ian Kenny's distinctive vocals. As ever, there are snippets where Kenny truly belts it out ('We Are', 'Aeons'), but the huge, hook-oriented stylings of 'New Day' and 'Roquefort' seem to be behind them.
This new sense of focus is a double-edged sword. 'Asymmetry' is a full body of work, certainly, and it is actually the longer pieces that boast the fleeting moments of excitement. 'Sky Machine', for example, stands out due to its animated guitar lines and interesting structure, but lacks the signature Karnivool pay-off that its build-up suggests. To rub salt in the wound, we are then treated to one of the album's glitchy interludes that do little except kill momentum.
This is a frustrating but admirable effort from the Perth quintet, one that lacks the gripping eccentricities of their previous records but showcases an improved feel for progressive songwriting. The band sound more at home on their longer tracks but are missing what made their sound so infectious in the first place – Kenny's phenomenal range and guitarist Drew Goddard's gripping melodies. They need to let go again.
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