KARMAKANIC
"Wheel
of Life" (The End / Regain Records North America; 2004
Reviewed by Christopher J. Kelter
Progressive rock newcomers Karmakanic have released their second effort "Wheel Of Life" on the Regain Records North America label. Regain is a label that is best known for their semi-official slogan 'quality not quantity' and that certainly applies here. Regain has a modestly sized roster of bands, but you've probably heard those bands or at least heard of them. Except Karmakanic – you've probably not heard of these guys. But that's okay because this is where the 'quality' part plays such an important part of the label's philosophy.
The Regain roster of bands leans heavily towards the black metal style. As such, you could almost say that it doesn't help that Karmakanic sticks out like a sore thumb because of their symphonic progressive rock style. But, after one spin of Karmakanic's "Wheel Of Life," you'll know that the quality of the music is more than enough to exceed the bounds of people's perceptions of what a Regain Records band is all about.
The symphonic style of Karmakanic's music harkens back to the prog-rock heyday back in the '70s and of course the recent late '90s/early '00s resurgence of the genre. Of course, the music is very much in the accomplished manner and it is not difficult to call these guys virtuosos. The crazy thing about most symphonic prog-rock albums (to me anyway) is that I tend to like certain parts of the songs rather than the entire songs themselves. The eight songs on "Wheel Of Life" run the gamut from under five minutes to over fourteen minutes. And the cool thing is that I like pretty much everything about each song as a separate entity and the album as a whole. Additionally, the album clocks in at more than 65 minutes, but never seems that long due to its effortless flow.
Karmakanic's "Wheel Of Life" is exquisitely performed. "Wheel Of Life" is for fans of The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, RPWL., early Yes, and Kaipa.
"Wheel Of Life" was produced by Jonas Reingold. The production is clean and crystal clear – no doubt it was of paramount importance that Reingold as a member of the band knew exactly what he wanted and was able to achieve it as the producer.
Karmakanic: Goran Edman on vocals, Krister Jonzon on guitars, Jonas Reingold on bass and keyboards, and Zoltan Csorsz on drums. There are numerous guests not the least of whom is Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings).
For more information visit http://www.reingoldmusic.com.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
Copyright © 2004 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights
reserved.
Revised: 03 Apr 2009 00:16:26 -0600.
