Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Karmakoma
Label: ZARŠ Records
Release date: 14.01.2014
Running time: 33:45
Rating: 3.5/5
Karmakoma are an interesting product of modern times. Three guys who know what they want. From Krško. With a stylistically and sonically simple setup that, in its “less is more” minimalism, still delivers real musical substance.
Alternative rock with chopped-off, direct lines, raw and charged with energy! It challenges you head-on, right in the face. A piercing, at times downright biting vocal full of cheeky “bad ass” arrogance, the kind the essence of punk music loves, is definitely the main engine behind the explosive punch of the debut “Imagination And Mechanical Metamorphoses”. The contrasts between the individual building blocks of the sound are brought out beautifully, and the album’s production is tight and compact. A seriously thickened-up “bass leg”, which with its pulsing intensity effectively “colors” the solid, direct rhythmic texture of the drums, is wrapped in a backdrop of synth sounds carrying the retro nostalgia of the sonic trends from the days when “new wave” was getting popular at the dawn of the eighties. So Karmakoma clearly enjoy messing around with sound, and even though I mentioned minimalist arrangement moves (short, compact solutions), they by no means shy away from stacking multiple melodic synth lines, which thickens the sonic picture and brings the necessary dynamics to how the songs develop.
The opener Common Sense, followed by Ctrl alt del and a little later Nemesis, collide with a chosen synth sound that heads straight back to the days of Depeche Mode’s first album “Speak And Spell”, and also Yazoo’s hit Don’t Go, even though the band’s basic musical track is instantly clear: they build their expressive format on an effective and distinctive collision of electronics, at times spiced with downright bizarre tribal dance-rhythm kinetics and the rhetoric of biting punk rock arrogance. Let me quickly throw out a few more acts off the top of my head that the album’s chosen synth sound on “Imagination And Mechanical Metamorphoses” might fleetingly bring to mind, all of them of course belonging to the “new wave” movement of the early eighties: Trans-X, O.M.D., Berlin Secret Service, Visage. And hey, Rammstein do it too, after all, but in their own way, of course, in a different story altogether.
The guitar sound is often effectively calibrated against the synth lines, but in most cases the synth backdrops in the sonic landscape the band paints take precedence over guitar riffs. What’s more, synthesizing takes the lead in structuring the arrangements, while the guitar is often used as a sonic seasoning. But don’t worry. Karmakoma are still plenty noisy and will honestly sand down your ear canals (the chorus of Sorgenbrecher)! Another interesting oddity on the album is the closing Bedlam, which creates a “dub” illusion in its rhythmic approach.
The moods of the album are, as expected, dark and the product of the dark thoughts nurtured by the rebellious nature of rock music creators. Enej Mavsar’s vocal performance is extremely focused and committed, and comes across as bold, resolute, and confident. Even though the emotions expressed here string together despair, fear, anger, and discontent, they are delivered very convincingly, so the vocal performance has just the right amount of authority and unbridledness, as well as a fitting dose of energy, which makes for a great platform for the band’s live shows. In the songs Movement and the instrumental Aerobics, Karmakoma masterfully “fatten up” the bass line in the sonic picture. Both songs gain from clear contrasts between the building blocks of the sound, which in turn helps thicken the sonic picture effectively. In both, the emphasized bass lines are an especially effective contrasting counterweight to the synth lines. Over the whole album, in fact, we get a successful creation of contrasts between the “coldly robotic” effect of the synth backdrop (the accompaniment) and the warm (even organic-sounding) voluminous kinetics of the dance rhythm structures (drums and bass guitar), which, along with the convincing vocal delivery, is the element that gives the record its much-needed dynamic flow.
Karmakoma are a welcome breath of fresh air for the Slovenian alternative rock scene, building on the band’s already recognizable musical profile right from the start of their journey with the debut “Imagination And Mechanical Metamorphoses”, with tangible, self-authored material. Karmakoma are by no means discovering a musical revolution with this debut. Still, their ideas reflect a genuine desire to affirm their own musical vision. And the band is doing that very well right out of the gate. It will be interesting to watch the band’s stylistic and sonic development, since there’s still plenty of room left for messing with sound.
Line-up
Enej Mavsar – vocals, guitar, programming, synthesizer
Miha Škafar -bass guitar, guitar, synthesizer
Benjamin Kovač – drums, percussion
Production
Karmakoma & Petar Stojanović
Track list
1. Common Sense
2. Ctrl alt del
3. Sorgenbrecher
4. Nemesis
5, Cabin Fever
6. Bona Fide
7. Movement
8. Cheap Chat for Progress
9. Aerobic
10. Bedlam
