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KARMA TO BURN
Appalachian Incantation
NAPALM RECORDS
You hear that Billy? Up on the mountain? That’s the sound of rock, that’s the sound of roll, that’s the sound of Karma To Burn! After a seven-year absence the instrumental kings have returned with the highest of the High Rocktane albums Appalachian Incantation. Whatever drove these guys to get back together let’s all take a quick second to nod a thank you to the Gods Of Rock because this album is a swift kick right to the nuggets. Karma To Burn have worked up some of the thickest grooves and biggest rock sounds I’ve heard a long time and they do it with no singer, allowing only the pure rock good times to shine through.
Appalachian opens up with a low-end bass solo that signals what’s about to happen and then allows the guitars into its bass world to start wailing. The main groove that erupts from this meeting is one of those that no matter what you do you’re forced to move some part of your body in time. The breakdown is so perfect because it introduces a new groove that teeters on losing control so when the original groove returns it’s like a punch in the jaw. Karma To Burn haven’t lost a step in the years apart, it sounds like the never stopped rocking.
What sets Karma To Burn and especially Appalachian Incantation apart is the subtle complexity of the album. Often instrumental bands get so weighed down with proving how well they can play that the songs become all brain and no gut. Karma To Burn sidestep that issue by introducing riffs that go right for your gut and then bringing in the brain teasing complex structures later on. At first listen I didn’t realize everything that was going on in the songs. It wasn’t until the third or fourth go round that I could hear what the musicians were pulling out on each track.
The new Karma To Burn seems a lot more confident in what they can do. A song like “41” is heavier and more unfocused than what Karma usually offer up. I don’t mean unfocused in a negative way but more that they’re willing to throw structure to the wind and do what they feel the song requires. The tune “45” (all but two have numbers for names) is a slow and methodical jam, think Rush meets Kyuss, which might seem out of place next to all the heavy grooves but is presented with such confidence that it doesn’t feel odd.
Karma To Burn even throw in some twists namely two tunes with vocals. The first, Waiting On The Western World, features Daniel Davis of Year Long Disaster one of the Karma members other projects and Two Times features ex-Kyuss frontman John Garcia who the band has a history with. Even though out of their norm both songs work perfectly in the Appalachian Incantation mix. Karma To Burn haven’t snuck back into the party with this album, they’ve pulled the rock version of Carrie and the results will leave rock fans bloody, beaten and happy.
CRAVEONLINE Rating: 8 Out Of 10
SOLACE
A.D.
SMALLSTONE RECORDS
Another monolith of rock with a new album is Solace and their rock opus “A.D.” Where Karma To Burn is about groove and subtlety Solace is all about groove and power. This is a band that believes in weight, not just heaviness but actual weight to what they do. Each Solace tune on A.D. lands like a ton of bricks on your head with vocals that scream through your brain and rattle your spine. This isn’t rock for the faint of heart; this is Samurai Rock in that it brings up the feelings of having fought a vicious battle against an unbeatable foe.
Don’t get me wrong, A.D. is a kick ass album but these are extensive, hard-hitting jams that pound on your skull from beginning to end. This isn’t stonerrock or doom or metal, it’s a wacked out hybrid of all three. The riffs are huge and thick but tuned down so far you can feel them reverberate through your soul. Yet nothing on the album sounds muddy like doom nor does it plod along like so many bands of that genre do.
Solace have tempo in their thickness and strong guitars that pluck through notes as much as they rely on huge chords to carry the songs. You would think these varying elements would work against each other but Solace manage to stay in control, not letting anything get away from them.
Remember now these are also songs that clock in anywhere from five minutes up to nine so it isn’t like Solace jump in and jump out. They find a nice groove and ride it for as long as they can. When it works, like with the song “Six Year Trainwreck”, Solace delivers some of the best heavy music out there.
Listen to how they change up their style with “The Eyes Of The Vulture” by relying more on a straight rhythm and mood than just a heavy riff. I don’t know if Solace like experimenting or just fucking with their audience but whatever it is they love to toss in change ups. Like Karma To Burn it’s easy to get lost in the songs and reduce Solace to another groove band. To do that is to really miss all the cool stuff Solace work into what they do.
If I had to nitpick my only problem with A.D. is that it could’ve used another song like “The Skull Of The Head Of A Man”, a two minutes plus fast paced number that just rips the flesh right off of your face. With tunes clocking in as lengthy as these Solace would’ve done well to inject one more of these higher paced numbers. It’s not a big deal and it doesn’t take away from the record it’s just something I think the album could have used. Not because the long songs are boring but more because the power of that shorter tune is undeniable.
There aren’t too many soldiers from the days of stonerrock still standing and even fewer doing anything interesting. Solace have braved those times and come out as a better, stronger and more musically inclined band than most of their peers. Like High On Fire, Solace and Karma To Burn both create heavy music for adults in a world overrun by extreme music for kiddies.
