ALBUM REVIEW: Karma – QOYA

Shoegaze meets doom metal meets post-rock on QOYA’s newest album Karma. The French trio became known for their ability to combine genres that one might not have thought would work together, yet it creates something that feels both ethereal and moody, something that can be relaxing yet can also leave you contemplating about the deeper topics of life.

To open the record, we have intro track Ascend that, as the start suggests, uses ethereal sounds that build in intensity up until the alternative instruments are individually introduced, a teaser for what’s to come. Moving into Ghost, the instruments stay alternative in nature as slower shoegaze sounds play alongside, shortly joined by distorted, echoing vocals. As you’ll discover during the album’s playtime, it’s not so much about what words spoken mean, but about the atmosphere and feelings the music leaves you with which, currently, has you in a dreamlike state. Even when the doom metal is introduced with the guitar, it still feels otherworldly.

QOYA themselves have described the record as being somewhere between “neat ambient clarity and a surprisingly catchy spirit”, something that, whilst difficult to fully describe, you find yourself agreeing with. It would also be fair to say that the album is almost like a noise project that explores both the feelings and sensations of floating in an ethereal dream state, yet also setting up a scene from a world of science fiction.

We’re being serious. This concept starts being introduced on tracks Anima and Temple that are mostly instrumental and start to introduce elements of psychedelic rock. It feels like the build-up towards something, currently unknown, until we get to final track Altar, the darkest sounding song on the entire record where the doom metal can be fully appreciated, where you can picture a spaceship, slowly floating through space that appears empty, a sense of foreboding and awareness that something deeply tragic and horrific has just taken place.

There’s something hauntingly beautiful about this record that cannot be described and can only be experienced by listening to it in full.

Rating: 8/10

Karma is out now via self-release. 

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