Torn on a 4.0 or 4.5 for this because the music sounds pretty safe overall, but the SOUND and the performances are just insane. Also really appreciate the sensitivity here, Reanimation is just fantastic

Album Rating: 4.5

A well written review on Sputnik? Has the world gone crazy?

If there's one track which loses my attention a bit, it's remote self control.

Album Rating: 2.5

What a boring slab of nothing

Great imo but I get why people may not like it. Not exactly the most mindblowing brand of prog.

a 1.0 for Asymmetry is crazy tho

Album Rating: 2.5

Definitely not much of a prog guy. At least for metal.

Okay, that's a different question.
I usually have this sort of reaction to dm, to each their own I suppose

Album Rating: 2.5

Just feels like the drummer is the only one trying. The shrill vocals don't help much either

Album Rating: 3.5

I am not sure I would even classify Karnivool as primarily a prog metal band (though they undoubtedly have prog metal influences), and even then, it falls more in the Tool category of prog, which is also to say, more prog rock adjacent in their sound. In fact, I would rather categorise their sound as progressive rock (if I were to pigeonhole them in a genre category). Also agree that the drumming is the stand out on this record, though admittedly, that has been the case with this band's work generally.

Album Rating: 2.5

I find that to be a trope with proggy stuff in general (Tool, Gojira, Leprous, etc.). Maybe someday it'll click

Album Rating: 4.0

Small p Prog rather than big p Prog



Make your own big p/small joke

Haven't gotten to this yet but Sound Awake is pretty awesome.

Album Rating: 3.5

Also think, regarding the prog metal/prog rock distinction, there appear to be rather significant musical differences between the more classic prog-rock inflected approach to prog metal (most well-known being Dream Theater probably, but also Tool), those that fuse it with more extreme metal sounds (think early Opeth, Gojira also, though in a different way), the 'djent' stuff (following Meshuggah), and the more out there avant-garde/experimental stuff like Unexpect, Mr. Bungle, and Estradasphere. Probably think Karnivool aligns mostly with the first current (and I think since I like a lot of the classic prog rock stuff it appeals to me too), but if that is not your style, there are other options even within the domain of prog metal broadly.

Album Rating: 4.5

Australian Prog Rock?

There should be a clear distinct name for the Aus scene that includes bands like Karnivool, Butterfly Effect, Cog, 12 FT Ninja, Dead Letter Circus, Full Scale, and so many more. Even though they are sound different to each other, but have commonalities. I think part of the differentiation of Karnivool to most the other (international) prog bands is their Australianism? Its a scene that is adored and makes sense here. Not sure if it translates internationally as well? As an Aussie i think it does but can't speak for americans / europeans etc. Its never been quite as direct or punchy as bands like Deftones or A Perfect Circle who are this scene's international cousins.

The love for these bands here in Oz is definitely borne from the comradery of the live scene, the shows, the culture, all that can't really be experienced unless here to live it.



Which makes me wonder, if everyone commenting on this a fellow Aus, or do we have a lot of international peeps listening and commenting? Curious!



I'm really liking this album, I cant help feel the fact that I never worshiped Sound Awake, (I think its definitely good/solid but never to the heights most do) has allowed me to not always think back of my mind 'is it as good as sound awake?' I am currently overall, thinking from start to finish, it is better than sound awake! For me anyway, as i always had issues with staying engaged with that one fully, but this one is great start to finish.



Albeit it took me 8-10 listens of each song to get to that point with it now.

Album Rating: 3.5

Can imagine that every musical culture imparts its own specificities on the sound of bands emerging from it (especially as they influence each other within the same musical scene). I am not familiar enough with Australian prog rock scene to know whether there are any specific aesthetic commonalities that set it apart (in my home country of The Netherlands, we do not really have a prog scene worth talking about; just Focus and Exivious as bands worth listening to). In any case, when I think of Australian prog I am thinking specifically of Ne Obliviscaris (my favouriate Australian outfit I've heard thus far), though that is more Opeth-inspired prog metal than prog rock of the Karnivool variety.

Album Rating: 4.0

add Caligula's Horse and Arcane to that Aussie prog rock list

@MementoMori That's interesting, because in Poland we don't have a particularly developed prog scene either. There's been quite a few bands around, some even notable (SBB, Riverside and Kobong come to mind) but I'm convinced that the vast majority of us doesn't even know that Polish prog is a thing. So many Polish prog fans only listen to the stranger bands: Meshuggah, Leprous, Yes etc. And, in my case, Karnivool, which none of my peers knows about because they're fairly obscure here.

Album Rating: 3.5

Curiously enough, as far as I can recall, both Poland and The Netherlands have a particulary well developed black metal scene (though I am not particularly familiar with either), with the Netherlands producing some amount blackgaze and atmospheric bm as far as I now. Further, we have at least one more experimental dissonant approach to BM in Dodecahedron (my personal favourite from what I have heard, though the band is no longer active as far as I know). What determines these patterns in musical production, I would not know. Riverside was one of the bands that initially got me into prog; their earlier output is excellent.