By Jase Walker
Throughout most of my years getting stuck into more proggy metal which was almost entirely kickstarted by my first trip to Sonisphere festival in Knebworth in 2010 after some digging through the lineup and coming across Karnivool. If I remember correctly, this was the same year their absolute masterpiece album of ‘Sound Awake’ came out and went on to shape my musical taste for years to come and is still heavily in my rotation to this day.
So after a lengthy quiet period that seemed to be delineated by their ‘Asymmetry’ album in 2013 and the subsequent worldwide pandemic in 2020, this seemed like it was going to be the last we’d ever hear from Karnivool (on this side of the world at least). But eventually the sleeping giant began to stir and ‘All It Takes’ appeared and gave signs of life in the Karnivool camp and led to a tour which I had the privilege of catching in Manchester, but as far as further new music went, this had to serve as the taste of things to come.
In the latter end of 2025, things progressed much more rapidly with the release of ‘Drones’ and ‘Aozora’ and the news I’d been waiting for: a new album is forthcoming and will be with us soon and a subsequent tour to really drive home that Karnivool are back. So, of course I’d jump at the chance to get myself in early to get my ears around ‘In Verses’, clocking in at ten tracks of varying length but as you’d expect, this is prog baby so they’re lengthy!
Leading with ’Ghost’ to draw your ears in with some brand new Karnivool but easing you along with some familiar comfort of fat overdriven bass that is reminiscent of ‘Set Fire To The Hive’. This immediately feels much more along the Sound Awake vibe with interesting melodic hooks and that signature off-kilter rhythmic work that Karnivool are just so bloody good at.
‘Drones’ and ‘Aozora’ make a one-two punch and sit nicely at the start of the album as it feels like each track steadily builds up the momentum before breaking hitting you with the familiar mix of heavy and dreamy moments along ‘Animation’ and ‘Conversations’ and along into ‘Reanimation’.
The final part of the album feels fundamentally demarcated by their initial single for this album ‘All It Takes’ feeling much closer to the likes of Themata’s material with its subtle feeling of dread pulsing along the entire song. This is then followed up with my personal album highlight of ‘Remote Self Control’. I absolutely love it when these guys really lean heavily into the busier side of their songs that wraps you up and properly gets you stuck into their rhythmic prowess and I hope this is going to be on the setlist they run with later this year!
Admittedly I feel that the energy tails off a little bit towards the end as ‘Opal’ and ‘Salva’ while are fantastic tracks in their own right kind of feel a bit at odds with the opening journey of ‘In Verses’ and feel a bit like an art piece that stands on their own merits. Karnivool aren’t strangers to this sort of statement, no less with the way that their previous album Asymmetry moves through itself so if the more arty Karnivool is your jam then you may feel a bit different.
Overall I feel like this is going to be an instant classic that’ll be remembered fondly in the same way ‘Sound Awake’ has been for the many years since its release. There’s definitely still echoes of the more arty moments that punctuated Asymmetry but feels a bit more closer to home and along similar vibes as ‘Sound Awake’. It’s quite hard to not compare this album a lot to their previous works because it’s been quite a fairly lengthy amount of time since we’ve had this much movement material-wise in the Karnivool camp.
Overall I feel like this is bringing me back to the awe I felt back in 2012 listening to ‘Sound Awake’ and having a musical epiphany at the same time with a band that I checked out almost entirely based on their (for lack of a better term) weird-ass name. Well here it is folks, Karnivool are back with ten songs that’ll be living in your head rent free for the foreseeable future, welcome back lads, you’ve been sorely missed.
- ‘In Verses’ is released today (Friday 6 February).
- All written content © Über Röck 2026.
