Kamala – Karma
Kamala – Karma
M&O Music
Release Date: 24/02/2023
Running Time: 33:07
Review by Victor Augusto
9/10
Kamala! A 20-year-old Thrash Metal band on their 6th full album. A band who earned huge respect from their Brazilian and European fans, especially in France. I’ve been following their career closely since 2017, despite already hearing about them even before that and I can assure that they worked incredibly hard to be where they are now.
Here is “Karma”! The result of years of dedication. It finally sees the light of the day, after a long time of waiting. This material was done even before the pandemic chaos has hit the world, in 2020, but for those who had a chance to see what happened behind the curtains with the band, as I could, know that it was a wise decision to wait for the proper moment to release it!
Maybe the title of the album represents everything Kamala has been battling so far. Definitely, it’s the release that I have most loved from them, which carries all the aggressiveness and identity that I’ve heard on their music, mainly from “Mantra” (2015) to now. Raphael Olmos is playing insanely well. His skills to create catching and complex riffs are impressive. I felt that he is at his best as guitarist and composer.
Highlights also goes to the drummer Isabela Moraes. She has already shown her capability of playing double basses and creating good grooves on the previous album “Eyes of Creation” (2018), but here she is playing much better. Her versatility to change rhythms, using very complex fillings has brought my attention, especially because it is being played faster than before.
But what I most loved from the album is also done by Isabela and I am talking about the clean vocals she sang. Her beautiful voice brought a great sentimental feeling for the lyrics, especially in songs like ‘Fear’ or ‘Made me Bleed’. For me, it was the best addition to their music!
Musically, I can describe “Karma” as a furious Thrash Metal album full of Groove and high spiritual energy. The solos are very dense with a wah-wah pedal, but Raphael showed that it is perfect possible to create good technical solos using it. The bass is strongly present all the time and it is another lovely instrument to hear here. There is also a Death Metal diluted over all the music, like they incorporated something like the Gojira high level of intensity to dilute it alongside their Thrash Metal.
Lyrically, we can divide “Karma” into songs to give you a Shock Therapy to keep fighting and working hard on what you dream or how to be better, as a human being, as you hear in ‘My Will be Done’. The harsh side of the lyrics is about the bad acts of people that create all karma in someone’s life, as the title track, ‘Delusion’ and ‘Misery and Pain’ say.
There is an interesting (possible) connection between two of the tracks. ‘Made me Bleed’ is about someone we had turned their back on; ‘Fear’ refers to losses, but it’s about the fear of dying, also the desire to live. We can connect both tracks when we have people around us that kind of die, even though they are still alive, or about people that we want to stay in touch with, despite the fact that they are not here anymore. It’s just a matter of perception.
“Karma” shows an even more evolved band that I’ve heard before and it will put Kamala where they deserve. It’s so hard to have a band doing this so professional work in Brazil, where we are losing all hopes for heavy music. I often congratulate a band after a specific release that touches me, but today I must say thanks to Kamala. Thanks for please us with an album like “Karma” and I feel proud to have walked a few parts of this path with them.
‘Forgive The Weak’ Official Music Video:
TRACKLISTING:
01. Forgive The Weak
02. Karma
03. My Will be Done
04. Made me Bleed
05. Fear
06. Never Enough
07. Dharma
08. Delusion
09. Misery and Pain
LINE-UP:
Raphael Olmos – Vocals and Guitars
Isabela Moraes – Drums and Vocals
Zé Cantelli – Bass
LINKS:
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