Issue 2026-021

Karnivool — In Verses

Andy Read

I am happy to say that DPRP was one of the first European prog-sites to pick up on Karnivool. It was back in 2008 and my 250th review for this site was a ringing endorsement of their debut album Themata.

The band began as a high school entity covering grunge bands. Before long they began writing original material and released an EP, Persona, in 2001. Themata was actually released independently by the band in 2005, followed by a sell-out Aussie tour and then signed to a label. Over here the record had created absolutely no buzz at all. I had to get my copy from the USA (remember when you could do such things without doubling the price of the CD in taxes).

"Themata is an outstanding piece of music from start to finish," I concluded.

Move forward to 2009 and Sound Awake was even better. Tracks like New Day, Goliath and Simple Boy are some of my favourite songs ever. Then there was a pause before Asymmetry arrived in 2013. One of the most disappointing releases ever. Based on the first two albums, it was a blind purchase for me. I played it once and never again. Horrible down-tuned fuzzy noise. I did revisit it before writing this review. It has not improved with age. (The bonus live DVD is brilliant, though).

Since then there has been a tireless gestation period for this fourth album. Thirteen years! Several singles have trickled out already, and a few songs have been tested in their sporadic live shows. But finally, the band's lean discography now has a fourth album added to it.

So, is InVerses a return to the form of their first two albums, or it is another failure?

Karnivool (promo photo by Tobias Sutter)

To steal the phrase from the opening track, I have stayed with this album for quite a few moments and it is definitely on a level with their first two releases.

That first song, Ghost is among the best they have written. It has that unique Karnivool blend of intense heaviness with down-tuned riffs, and more-reflective moments characterised by rim-shot drum grooves and delicate guitar strings. Kenny's voice soars over the top of it all. "Like any other day," he implores.

The next three tracks have strong melodies, hooks and grooves that put them on a par with the opener. I love the odd shuffle rhythm to Drone. Steve Judd's drumming is the star of the show on Aozora. It is possibly the most single-esque song of the opening quartet. "Waiting for the great escape" sings Kenny, hopefully. Animations takes on a closer resemblance to Tool, but that's not a bad thing. It's a comparison not unknown to Karnivool fans. I really love the instrumental breakdown before the crushing riffs bring the song to a thudding end. So far, so excellent.

Conversations is the longest track. Some have said this is the least successful. I disagree. It does stick stubbornly to one groove and melodic sensibility. But after four belting bursts of Karnivool energy and frantic dynamics, the gentle melody is just what the doctor ordered. The majestic central melody is very strong, and the ghost-like guitar patterns and bubbling bass work well. The fade-out is too long, though.

Reanimation isn't quite as lengthy but packs a lot more into its near-seven minutes. Dynamically-dramatic if you please. Light and shade control the moods. It's almost doomy in parts. "Feeling alone in a crowded place", regrets Kenny. Not many guitar solos on this album, but Guthrie Govan (The Aristocrats) is brought in to deliver one here.

The heavily complex All It Takes was the first single back in 2021. Built on an unrelentingly deep riff, it's not as strong as those in the opening quartet, but it is instantly enjoyable. Remote Self-Control is my least favourite song here. It's quite a long album. This would have been better left as a b-side.

Opal is talked-of as a fan favourite. It's a ballad. Not really my thing. Maybe it would have worked better if placed a little earlier on the album.

We close on another (largely) slower song. Salva didn't do much for me on the first few spins but has slowly worked its reflective magic. "There ain't no place I'd rather be ... but I gotta run away", regrets Kenny. There are some nice passages here, and who can complain when a band ends an album with a bagpipe solo.

And that's it. Overall, I'd say that this is the most consistent of the Karnivool albums. Whilst both Themata and Sound Awake have a handful of stronger individual songs, both struggle to maintain that quality through the entire album. With In Verses Karnivool have found a way to sustain that quality, variety and interest. A very welcome return.

Magnify The Sound — Searching For A Quiet Place

Ignacio Bernaola

Here's another band I'd never heard of. I love that feeling of listening to something for the first time without having the slightest clue what they're going to sound like. It's those first few minutes of excitement that eventually turn into either good or bad vibes. I guess you know what I mean. Magnify The Sound is a Norwegian quartet built around guitarist Trond Engum, a veteran of the atmospheric doom scene with The 3rd & The Mortal, and drummer Carl Haakon Waadeland, who happens to be a jazz musician and university professor with a PhD focused on the science of rhythm. Not your average band biography. Add Tone Åse on voice and Sturla Eide on Hardanger fiddle, the Norway's national string instrument, worth looking up if you don't know it, and you already get the sense this is going to be something a bit different.

And it starts brilliantly. Once Upon A Breath builds slowly, cinematic and patient, until Waadeland's tribal drumming kicks in and suddenly the whole thing feels alive and urgent. When it finished, I genuinely thought: this could be something special. The closest thing I could think of was Skylight by Swedish band Atoma. (If you don't know that record, stop what you are doing and check that one!) That opening track sets the bar high, and the Hardanger fiddle running through the whole album gives everything a folkish, Nordic, and cold, atmosphere that feels earned rather than bolted on.

Åse's voice appears here and there, but always in a soft way, more texture than song. It works, I can't say the opposite. Then the album settles into its concept. And stays there. The title is not lying to you: this really is music designed for quiet, for introspection, for sitting with your thoughts. I can confirm it works on that level. Every time I listen to it, my mind drifts somewhere completely different. It's genuinely immersive in that way, even though it isn't one of those super calming albums you can fall asleep to.

But musically, after those first two tracks, it becomes a slow and patient exercise that never quite delivers the punch it keeps hinting at. The drumming in the nine minute Within The Circles Of A Siren gets close, really close, and then pulls back again. That is the frustrating part. Waadeland is a fascinating drummer, and every time he opens the throttle a little, the music transforms completely.

But the album seems almost allergic to sustaining that energy for long. Which makes sense given the title, I suppose. You can't call your record Searching For A Quiet Place and then spend forty minutes being loud about it. Fair enough. But part of me kept wishing for a different album, call it Searching For A Louder Place, where those powerful rhythmic moments got more room to grow.

This is a record for patient listeners who enjoy music that works on atmosphere rather than hooks. If that opening track sounds like a promise to you, just be warned: the rest of the album is more of a whisper. Magnify The Sound clearly have something worth listening to. The hope, or my hope, is that next time, they trust themselves to turn it up a bit more often.

Dave Newhouse — Automatic Writing

Jerry Kranitz

I first became aware of American underground legends The Muffins when they played on Fred Frith's 1980 Gravity album. At the time they were just names in the credits that I glossed over. But that all changed a few years later when I started ordering their albums through the iconic Wayside mail order. I fell hard for their Canterbury and prog-jazz brand of progressive rock, with their beautiful melodies and intricate compositions. I believe it was 1981 when they disbanded, though I was thrilled to see the reformed original quartet perform at the 2001 ProgDay festival in North Carolina.

Muffins' horns, winds and keyboards player Dave Newhouse has remained creatively active over the years recording solo albums and in various collaborative projects. (Moon Men and Moon X are among my personal favorites.) Automatic Writing is his latest solo album. In the notes, Dave says to his ears he's still making exactly the same music he made back in 1970. Well, there certainly is a Muffins/Canterbury/prog-jazz vibe that permeates throughout. But Dave is still creating beautiful, exciting music. He plays all winds, horns and keyboards and enlists some smokin' hot musicians to help him achieve his vision.

The title track opens the set. The winds and keys are lovely, with some keys having a Zappa-ish flavour. And we've got fiery bass runs from Guy Segers (Univers Zero, Present, X-Legged Sally) and spacey violin from Michael Zentner (early version of The Muffins). Song For Saner Times is next and is the one track with Spanish guitarist Ángel Ontalva. My introduction to Ontalva was when he collaborated with Vespero some years ago, and it's nice to hear his ethereal, serpentine guitar in what is an overall grooving yet meditative Canterbury cum space-jazz composition.

Billy's Boots (reference to late Muffins member Billy Swann) is a family affair with Dave's sons George (drums) and Sam (bass). It's a funky jazz rocker with a big band feel, plus intense guitar licks from Jerry King. Whirly swirly Canterbury meets prog-jazz on Everybody's Moon. It includes more luscious guitar from Jerry King, and we're treated to a surprise blues harp and guitar finale. Nice touch!

I caught the Soft Machine vibe in the intro to Slightly, Virtually before I'd seen the "My tip-of-the-hat to Soft Machine" in the album notes. This is my favorite of the set. I love how after the intro it blasts off into a psycho swirling, hard rocking Softs-on-steroids tune, before easing into lulling melodic jazz dreamland. Killer variety and transitions.

The gorgeously melodic One For Brubeck is the most pastoral track of the set. Finally, Mr. Susie is named after Eric Dolphy's cat and is dedicated to Dolphy as well as being an homage to the 'spiritual' jazz of Pharaoh Sanders, Alice Coltrane and Sun Ra. I love the skronking free-jazz sax.

In summary, the compositions, melodies and performances are outstanding throughout. Veteran Muffins fans will be delighted, as will anyone into Canterbury and any forms of prog-jazz.

Rafael Pacha with the Friends of (Con)fusion — Not Normal After Music

Jan Buddenberg

WARNING
Jazz music produces a fevered disorder of the brain
leading to bad temper, slackness, lassitude, and bad health

This cautioning statement mentioned on the last page of the 16-page booklet that goes with Not Normal After Music, is taken from The Jazz One of Direct Causes of Marital Discord and Divorce. Published in August 1920 and reproduced in full on the booklet's second page, this article claimed that dancing to jazz led to tattered behaviour and reckless conduct, and basically accused jazz music of ruining marriages.

Fortunately, I cannot dance, and the bond between me and my wife goes far beyond just music. However, to avoid jeopardising our relationship, I mostly listened to Rafael Pacha's latest album whenever I was alone, in case the statement actually proved to be true. Because the guaranteed truth is that Pacha and his friends of (con)fusion have created a wonderful (symphonic) prog-folk-fusion album that has quite a lot of jazz at heart. The friends in order of appearance: Alessandro Di Benedetti (keys, vocals), Toni Jokinen (guitar), Michael Manring (bass), Kimmo Pörsti (drums, percussion), Risto Salmi (saxophone), Jan-Olof Strandberg (bass), Paula Pörsti (vocals), and John Wilkinson (vocals).

The presumed divorce-provoking element is immediately engaged in the treacherous musical treasure Contradiction. Pairing "conflicting" styles with melodic dexterity, where Pacha's guitar stylistically weeps with Pat Metheny/Larry Carlton sensuality, clearly brings smooth lounge jazz to mind. A charming fusion of subtle rhythms, lasciviously swirling synths, folky flute elements, and sultry soprano sax follows. It enhances the song's overall progressive attraction.

El Diablo Cuando Se Aburre... exudes a similar attraction through its classical piano passages and tenderly arranged movements, guided by elegant keyboard melodies in finest Inner Prospekt tradition. Melodies are complemented by groovalicious bass and heavenly guitar parts in spirit of John McLaughlin. Silence Is A Sticker unites emotional play and ace performances together with Jokinen's breathtaking soloing. It leaves me completely speechless.

Shine is what Pacha and the (con)fusion collective, as a team or individually, also do with definite ease in When In Doubt.... This features a rapid succession of alternating time signatures, sustained percussion, and undulating melodies, and includes a wonderful, Bossanova-like Santana movement. Even more so in the delightful Joy. A composition brought to life by a perpetual birth of enrapturing melodies that vivaciously fuses folk, Canterbury, and jazz into one harmonious, lively 70s whole. In Wonder If I'll Be, apart from Strandberg's slightly too funky bass, any speculation towards a certain Genesis influence would be entirely correct, when you hear John Wilkinson's voice, the song's 70s progressive nature, and the instrumental similarities of Benedetti and Pacha to those of Tony Banks and Steve Hackett.

The epic Plowman Of The Sky, located at the heart of the album, is easily the most adventurous track here and, as you might expect, the most prog-oriented. Based on the life and work of pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of the world's second most-translated book Le Petit Prince, this extraordinary suite tells the story of an aviator forced to land in the desert for repairs, where he encounters a personification of the innocence we once possessed. From a story point of view, this takes me right back to 2023 and Yesterdays' wonderful interpretation of this tale. Musically speaking, however, despite the obvious jazz influences on both, it is a somewhat different affair.

The track features vocal duties split up between Di Benedetti (Plowman) and Paula Pörsti (Child). It lifts off with subdued jazzy instrumentation and atmospheres, giving the impression of being fully suspended in mid-air. Impressions of The Guildmaster and Samurai Of Prog's musical storytelling style are looming. Halfway down, the song speeds up with spectacular melodic guitar play and a fiery passage of sax-driven fusion, completed by beautiful classical symphonic elements, and soothing piano. The prosperous oasis of carefully arranged musical ideas and instrumental developments are evocative of Mandalaband and Last Knight.

The closing bonus track Joy (Alternative Version) is performed by Pacha & Pörsti with energetic interaction and vivid individual virtuosity. It summarises the entire album perfectly in one word as far as I'm concerned.

Overall, the delightful Not Normal After Music is a joy to listen to and a marvellous gift for anyone in love with the efforts of Pacha and his close musical companions. In other words:

Not Normal After Music is fully worth the risk of divorce,
and comes highly recommended with the all clear listening advice:
ALL HEAR!

Peel, Palmer, Tausig & Gould — Synesthesia

Mark Hughes

Over dinner one night, Icarus Peel (guitarist with The Honey Pot, Icarus Peel's Acid Realm, as well as a prolific solo artist) and Steve Palmer (composer, keyboards, Hulusi (a type of flute), member of The Flying Hat Band alongside Glenn Tipton before he joined Judas Priest and apparently brother of the sightly more famous sibling Carl of ELP fame) decided to write an album of immersive and atmospheric psychedelic progressive rock music that might have appeared on the Harvest, Virgin or Vertigo Record labels back in the 1970s.

As the ideas developed the project expanded to include drummer and multi-instrumentalist Jay Tausig (Spirits Burning, Chromium Hawk Machine, Synesthesia) and keyboardist Rob Gould (solo artist, Synesthesia) to add colour and depth.

With four instrumental tracks, each of as near as damn it 10-minute duration, there is room enough in each composition to explore various musical avenues with the added advantage that each track has its own individual identity. The listener experiences a plethora of different soundscapes: blissed out atmospherics, keyboard doodling, incisive fuzzed out guitar solos, some heavy Hammond sections all blended to create music of the type that one can easily associate with the Canterbury Rock scene, early progressive splendour, elements of space rock and even moments of Steve Hillage-like Splendour.

Although a lot of effort was put into the compositions, there is a distinct free-form and exploratory improvisational aspect to the recordings which certainly adds to the overall atmosphere. Having said all that, the album stays well clear of pastiche and forges its own identity.

There seems something rather special, almost magical, to the way the four artists have gelled on this release. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that they will not be able, or even want to, to come up with as compelling a follow-up. But that is neither here nor there. For the moment we have these forty minutes of music that is likely to be deemed a timeless piece of artistry.

Wolverine — Anomalies

Edwin Roosjen

Wolverine from Sweden is back with a new album and it is about time. It was ten years ago that Wolverine released Machina Viva. The gap to the album before that, Communication Lost, was five years. According to frontman Stefan Zell it is a classic case of "life got in the way". After all those years, Wolverine still have the same line-up with Stefan Zell (vocals), Jonas Jonsson (guitar), Marcus Losbjer (drum), Thomas Jansson (bass), and Per Henriksson (keyboards).

In the review of Machina Viva, my colleague stated that Wolverine are not progressive metal. And I agree, Wolverine is progressive rock and not metal. I am a big supporter of melodic music, and I am not a supporter when bands turn to mathematical rhythms to such an extreme that the melody and feeling get lower priority. The opening notes of the opening song called A Sudden Demise gave me a bit of a scare because it sounded as if Wolverine also turned into this path of mathematical chord pounding. Thankfully, after about half a minute, Wolverine brings back the progressive rock sound that I like so much. Wolverine are definitely not a metal band. Anomalies brings progressive rock with a lot of melody and all sorts of other fantastic stuff that we can enjoy in our beloved genre.

The opening song A Sudden Demise is part of a trilogy, but for some reason this opening track is the third part of the trilogy. The plan for this trilogy of songs already started twenty years ago. The trilogy consists of A perfect Alignment, Circuits, and A Sudden Demise ended up in a different order on the album. The trilogy contains several parts based around a 5/4 scheme which align together in the end, check it out for yourself. Maybe in this order of playing the heavy pounding at the start of A Sudden Demise will fit better.

Anomalies brings more than this strangely situated trilogy. A song like My Solitary Foe is one of the better songs I have heard in a long time. It's an intense song that "deals with the relentless, cyclical patterns one goes through dealing with life's struggles". A lot of Wolverine's music is intense and dark, dealing with the more serious subjects in life. A song title like Nightfall is surprisingly the most uplifting piece of music I have ever heard from Wolverine. The lyrics are still dark and paint a bleak picture, but the uplifting music is a nice surprise.

The darker sound is back on This World And All Its Dazzling Lights and Automaton with the latter containing a lot of beautiful piano playing. Losing Game suggests a dark and sad song, but the start certainly does not sound like that. It starts very friendly and halfway this song becomes more mellow with a lot of melodies and many changes. Again another very fine song with a lot of interesting elements to discover. Anomalies ends with the mellow song Scarlet Tide, a ballad in foundation, but for sure this song gets a bit quite intense.

Wolverine are back with Anomalies! After ten years of waiting, they deliver an excellent progressive rock album. There is so much interesting stuff on this album I do not know where to begin. The trilogy in random order, a song that sounds surprisingly uplifting, so many changes and intense sections. I have listened to this album now many times, and I am still not done listening and discovering.