LIVE REVIEW: Karnivool @ O2 Forum Kentish Town, London

You’d think they teach people to fend off deadly spiders and venomous snakes with 11/8 polyrhythms and twelve-minute epics, based on the number of truly excellent progressive metal bands from Australia. One of their foremost representatives are KARNIVOOL, a band which embodies the motto “quality over quantity” – their cult stature only growing over time, despite them only releasing three studio albums in over twenty years. A much-anticipated European tour finally saw them return to UK soil for the first time in eight years, culminating in their biggest UK headline show to date at a sold-out O2 Forum Kentish Town in London.

Tasked with opening proceedings for the evening are illustrious post-metal collective THE OCEAN. Curtain-raiser Triassic sets the tone for their blend of tension-building atmospherics and dramatically combusting sludgy riffs, with the thick guitars coming in merciless waves as the sextet sways in unison to the crushing tide. They are simultaneously bathed in brilliant rays of light and deep shadows, creating the sense of a diver trying to navigate the dark depths of the aquatic. The set’s focus clearly lies on showcasing material from their excellent 2020 offering Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic, but they still find time for two cuts off Pelagial that are sure to pique the interest of any MASTODON fans in the building.

Everything in THE OCEAN’s show is meticulously thought about, as evidenced by the rhythmically pulsating blasts of red light which accompany Pleistocene. It is a piece that masterfully combines furious black metal with a funereal dirge, and frontman Loïc Rossetti picks its violin-fuelled crescendo to surf the wave of arms beneath him. The mesmeric synthpop of Holocene even sees a tactical shake-up in positions, as drummer Paul Seidel takes to the front for lead vocals, while keyboardist Peter Voigtmann expertly slots in behind the kit. The monstrous groove of hefty thirteen-minute opus Jurassic O| Cretaceous closes an engulfing support set which hits all the marks for what THE OCEAN stand for in 2023, as one of the more inventive bands in the post-metal oeuvre. 

Rating: 8/10

It says something about a band when they haven’t released an album in ten years and can still fill out a 2,300 capacity venue. When they do it whilst playing ethereal alt-prog metal, that is the sign of something really special. The excitement for KARNIVOOL is at fever pitch as the Aussies rev up their instruments’ engines in the build-up of C.O.T.E, and crowd and song erupt in unison. The resulting wall of sound is utterly brilliant as dense guitars punch you in the stomach, while elaborate drums keep making you double-check that it is Steve Judd and not multi-limbed Goro behind the kit, as he continuously strikes a perfect balance between flashy and tasteful. From the opening track of their debut album, we are fast-forwarded some twenty years with All It Takes – the quintet’s sole piece of new material since 2013’s LP Asymmetry. That is received with comparable enthusiasm, and the stomping triplet-feel drums give birth to a mass of jumping bodies in the centre of the Forum. 

Then, KARNIVOOL start bringing out the dishes that constitute the main course. While all-too familiar reasons for postponements mean that the tour slogan A Decade Of Sound Awake is now several years off the mark, the intention to celebrate their acclaimed second album is still fully there. The angular beats of Goliath usher in a string of songs that add up to not quite a full album play-through of 2010’s Sound Awake, but near-enough, and thus an extra level of euphoria is found within the crowd. Anthems like Simple Boy and Umbra unleash waves of swaying bodies that are akin to what would happen if you slowed a PENDULUM moshpit down to a sensual 7/4 groove. Singer Ian Kenny, backed by a thousand throats singing along to every word, is in his element, channelling the hypnotic rhythms created by his instrumentalist colleagues with closed eyes and endearing dancing. This is soulful gospel-prog in all its glory, and the congregation is fully swept in.

The cathartic New Day heralds the end of what feels like an equally cathartic gig, for both fans and artist. Departing with a promise to not take quite as long until they see the UK crowds again, KARNIVOOL leave us yearning for what their new day will bring, but even more so grateful for what they gave us this evening.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in London from Sarah Tsang here: 

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