Review of Karnivool’s “Sound Awake”
I’m going to attempt to review it here and this is going to probably be difficult to remain objective, because I feel such a kinship to these guys I will do my best to put aside my personal feelings and speak about this based on my experience with music. For those of you who don’t know me, that experience is vast. I’m older than most of the people reading this. In fact, I might actually be older than some of your parents. How old am I? Well let me put it this way, I’m old enough to have seen Led Zeppelin three times before John Bonham died. And I’m also old enough to have seen Pink Floyd three times with Roger Waters. I have been lucky in my life to have seen some of the greatest bands in rock ‘n roll history been fortunate enough to have met a few of them. I love progressive, thought-provoking music and my pursuit of it is never-ending.
Anytime I listen to an album I try not to judge it based on the initial spin. However, I’ve learned to trust my instincts, because if the album is something I wouldn’t be interested in, I know it almost immediately. Conversely, I can hear something and have it immediately grab me. I remember when I was 10 years old. I was riding with my father, and I heard an advertisement on a local radio station for Black Sabbath “Master of Reality”. I can remember my head snapping towards the radio and saying to my father “I want that album, Dad!” I remember the first time I heard Led Zeppelin. My sister was playing it in her room, and I immediately felt a chemical change in my body.
Karnivool-Drew, Steve, Kenny, Hoss and John
All of my favorite albums have grabbed me from the beginning, from one degree or another. However, every once in a while, an album comes along, where I listen to it and I think to myself, “wow” this is a great album! But there is some sort of confusion going on, that I can’t really pinpoint. This has only happened to me a handful of times in my life. What I’ve come to realize is this confusion (for lack of a better term) is my brain telling me that I need to listen to this more to be able to fully comprehend and appreciate it. The first time I heard Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is really the first time I can remember this particular feeling, Queensryche’s “Operation Mindcrime” and Tool’s “Lateralus” are others. In short, this feeling usually tells me that there is a lot more going on and I need to listen to it again. When I do, my brain starts picking up subtle things that it did not pick up the first time. Eventually, the album becomes an obsession and the CD doesn’t leave my player for two years.
Karnivool’s “Sound Awake” is my newest obsession. I personally thought their first full-length album “Themata” was a genius offering from a band so young and fairly new. 
Keep in mind “Themata” was primarily written and performed by Drew Goddard (Guitarist) and Ian Kenny (Vocalist). “Sound Awake” is the first full-length album, which the entire band collaborated on. Anyone who has ever seen Karnivool knows the band is super tight and talented but no one could have possibly known what would come out of this band in the writing process. Who could have known the sick and twisted ways that Steve Judd is capable of keeping time? Who could’ve known that John Stockman is just as sick and twisted as Steve? Listening to Mark “Hoss” Hosking trade-off with Drew Goddard in Lush Soundscape’s is the wet dream of any progressive rock fans fantasy. Ian Kenny is hailed for good reason, as one of Australia’s finest, if not the finest vocalist in Australia. Not only is he an incredible vocalist, but he is a poignant lyricist, and his ability to tap into your emotion with the inflection in his voice is truly magnificent.
I dropped off a copy of this CD to my good friend John Lenac at Yahoo Launch, and he asked me what my favorite song was. I told him, and I will tell you that that’s impossible for me to pick, because there is not one song on this album that is short of a masterpiece. To say, that “Sound Awake” is epic is like saying the Statue of Liberty is a big statue. One of my other favorite bands is Porcupine Tree and Porcupine Tree will be playing in Los Angeles next month. Usually when one of my favorite bands is coming to town, I listen to their CDs for a good month as the show approaches to get myself pumped up. I have tried putting on Porcupine Tree over the last month in earnest and found myself putting ”Sound Awake” back in. I feel like I’m living some weird Stephen King novel where my life is drawn to this magical album. I will look back on my time with this album and this album will represent something very special that I have only experienced a very few times in my life.
I understand why somebody reading this would be skeptical, but I dare you to listen to this album 10 times and argue with me.