If you haven’t heard of Karnivool, you soon will. The prog rock quintet have made a huge name for themselves in the Aussie music scene and they’re looking to take on the rest of the world with their no nonsense, keep-em-guessing approach.
Their new album, Asymmetry is due out on Friday and critics are already raving over the band’s transition from their last studio release, Sound Awake, more than four years ago.
In that time they’ve tackled numerous tours of Europe, the US, Australia and even India, which even the band’s guitarist and vocalist, Mark “Hoss” Hosking admitted “was a bit weird”.
“One time we were going [to India] for this student festival and we got invited to play this show and, well, we didn’t really have anything else on at the time. We sort of went into it thinking that we’d only be playing to around 300 people but we got there and there ended up being like four or five thousand people. It was definitely one of those pinch yourself moments, like ‘man what are we doing here”‘ he says.
“They had somehow found a way to download our music over there and, not that we’re not against that, but it did end up going in our favour. They knew the words and everything. They’re real music lovers you know It was quite a joyous discovery.”
But sitting in his car in the rain outside the studio, Hoss’ attentions are turned closer to home and how Karnivool’s fans will take the new album.
“[The album release] is getting very close. But, yeah, the reviews so far have been stellar, especially cos we’re the kind of band where you just don’t know what you’re going to get with us, and we sort of very self-indulgently said we would never do the same thing twice, so we never know how it will be received.”
Asymmetry, is the band’s third full-length album. Hoss says it is oriented more musically than lyrically.
“We always joke that we’re all drummers at heart because all of our songs stem from one drum beat or one rhythm and we go from there.
“We spent the better part of the last three years writing it, straight off the back of touring for Sound Awake, just holed up in hotel rooms. We’d start a few [songs] to form a basis and then we listened to them and thought, ‘oh, those sound a little bit bipolar’,” he laughs.
“But, no, it was more just like a harder sound then a softer sound or a more male or female dominated sound in parts … so we took those themes and worked that into the next writing stage. It’s something we’re pretty proud of. It’s a bit experimental but it’s true to what we love and what we like to hear and the Karnivool sound.”
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From the heavy and dramatic metal riffs to the more subdued and ambient sounds in some interludes and on tracks like the opening, Aum, Asymmetry as a whole album is an experience.
The first single, We Are is out now in New Zealand. While some critics worried that the song was an indication the band may have lost a bit of steam, it is an extraordinary lyrical piece for which the band seems to have almost pulled back a bit on to let the story take precedence.
And through the Chris Fry masterpiece of a video clip, it truly does.
“Chris has done all our clips, we just say: ‘this is what the song’s about and this is what we like. Run with it’, and he does. We are always thinking of the visual when we are writing and it’s nice to have that confidence in someone to just come in, and we can trust that he will represent that vision well,” Hoss says.
And that done, it’s time for Karnivool to get back what they “back the band on” – live shows.
With dates set in Europe and Australia, they’re also hoping to get to the US and a trip across the ditch is “definitely high on the priority list”.
“It’s kind of like a reward process … and you get to this point where you’ve built up enough positive energy from playing to be able to sit down and write again. So, yeah, we’d like to say the next [album] would come sooner than this one did, but we are a little bit precious and selfish.”
He laughs.
“But we always hope it will just fall out of us, and sometimes it does, and sometimes some of those songs take three years to write. But it still feels good and we’re still working well together. It’s great.”
Fans can pre-order Asymmetry from iTunes, which includes the absolutely incredible video for We Are, or they can pre-order the deluxe version of the album from www.karnivool.com.
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