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Karnataka - The Storm

Karnataka - CD Review
The Storm

CD Info

2000

Immrama Records

10 Tracks

English Lyrics

 

Karnataka is a wonderful Welsh band fronted (or at the current point in time, WAS fronted) by the talented Rachel Jones. They play a progressive rock mixed with some pop influences. The Storm is the second album released by this band, but it’s also the album that really launched them on to the scene—when one listens to this album, one can see why.

The album starts out with the gorgeous opener, "Heaven Can Wait". It starts with the sound of waves breaking on the ocean, followed by a synthesized harp-like noise. After, Rachel starts singing a beautiful soft melody. If you’ve never heard Rachel’s voice, it is somewhat similar to Mostly Autumn’s vocalist Heather Findlay—though Rachel’s voice has a most mystical quality to it. She really shine’s through most of the album’s tracks, such as in the beautiful "The Journey", the fun "Love and Affection", the upbeat "Writing on the Wall", and the pretty title track. Both "The Journey" and the title track are the long tracks on the album (both being in the 8 minute range), though they don’t get boring at all.

However, there are a couple of clunkers in the bunch. "Hay" and "Everything Must Change" just really don’t work for me. You can tell that the band was trying to experiment a bit with these "Hay", but the results just are not up par—unlike the track "Shine" where the experimentation really worked out nicely. "Everything Must Change" just doesn’t sound very good to me. It’s not really memorable or very enjoyable to listen to really. It’s a shame, because the other eight tracks are of really high quality.

Progressive rock fans who don’t mind a bit of pop in their rock should definitely take note of this release. It’s very well done for the most part, and the bonus is you get to listen to the gorgeous voice of Rachel Jones!

8 / 10