ALBUM REVIEW: Supakarma – Supakarma
Could you wait 20 years for a band to release their debut album? That’s how long fans of Milton Keynes rock band SUPAKARMA had to wait. Having formed in 1999, the band had joined the touring circuit in London and also made their mark in the low counties, and they were working on their debut album until friction during the recording process caused them to part ways and resulted in the project being shelved and unfinished. Decades later, after the untimely death of guitarist Jamie Paul Morris in 2019, the band have picked the record back up and completed it in tribute to him.
The result is a touching and heartfelt release that starts off with an ambient and eerie instrumental that is almost electronic in nature before the vocals come in. The electronic-esque instruments continue their strange and haunting notes until about halfway through, when the band opt for more traditional instruments. The opening song seems to exist outside of space and time as it goes from fast to slow paced.
The same cannot be said of Digital Vision; it is a fast-paced punk song that is all about the digital age. Saying that, it could be about any time in the 21st Century, from the Y2K panic to our ever-increasing reliance on technology nowadays. The electronic production on the instruments hammers this home.
In fact, electronics appear a few times on this album, particularly in the form of synths in New Test Cannonball and Demons. Elsewhere, the rest of the album goes through phases of punk and acoustic songs. Thanks to the production, this is a natural change that doesn’t affect the overall pacing. It also shows that the band are not afraid to show that they can try new things. In a way it may be a testament to how times have changed in regards to the way that genres are perceived, the stricter binaries one might have found 20 years ago having largely been discarded.
Even as the band do experiment considerably, each genre change is given its own breathing space. For example, the punkier section of the album spans three songs out of the total nine, and each is between two to five minutes, so it does not sound rushed. In fact, the longer songs on the album allow for more experimentation, which works the vast majority of the time. It is clear that the band have put a lot of time and care into this project.
Overall, this debut is worth the very long wait. It is a poignant and heartwarming celebration of life, full of experimentation, genre-changes and a clear sign of a passion project. SUPAKARMA have crafted a touching tribute to their late guitarist. The genre changes feel nature and the album’s pacing is fantastic and held even thanks to the brilliant production. This is a timeless record that is the epitome of the notion that good things come to those who wait.
Rating: 8/10
Supakarma is set for release on August 4th via Glass Mile Records/Forte Distribution.
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