Karmia was unknown to me until my boss, Alicia, did an interview with them. After reading said interview, my interest was piqued. I listened to a song of theirs on youtube and I really enjoyed it, and then Alicia suggested that I review their Origin album for Visual Keios.
Origin: Wow, what an amazing opening to the opening song. This song really got me excited for the rest of the album. Sharan’s voice is just pure gold. His opening growl was the perfect way for this song to start. The thing that stands out the most to me is the guitar. The emotional breathing at 2:49 to 3:05 just makes it so that you really feel what is trying to be expressed in the song, I mean “Can I really be alive while dying.”
Pledged: This song has a heavier opening than Origin and the tempo change at :23 is nice. Sharan’s voice in this actually made my jaw drop, and the guitar is almost reminiscent of Dragonforce at times. While the this song is pretty amazing, for some reason it just didn’t flow perfectly in my mind.
Decade: Slower song that focuses heavily on guitars. I don’t mind when a band relies heavily on a single instrument but for some reason it really works with this group. “In this silent way, I will fade away.” is the line that stands out most to me. The part from 2:43-3:00 my favorite part of the song.
Fragile for a Reason: Ooooh wow…an extremely heavy song that is a lot of fun to headbang to. The drums really comes to the forefront in this song, as is such with drummers in heavy songs.
Imprisoned Heart: This is my favorite song. This is the type of dance-y songs that I love. It’s a very spooky melody helped along by the guitars in the intro. San and Ana really shine in this song. My favorite part is 2:11-2:25, the instrumental and then fast singing by Sharan are truly exquisite.
The Shangri-La Murder: : The song reminds me of Harvester of Sorrow by Metallica . The almost haunting melody and the instrumental parts for this song are just pure epicness wrapped in awesomeness. Very hard hitting song and the lyrics are just not what you’d expect: “Just live it. Just breathe it in this living hell of murders. This answer, those bodies. We do them for human kind. We killed them. Destroyed them. We’ll let no-one survive. We’re psychos. We don’t care. We’ll give them salvation.” I was unable to understand what Sharan was screaming and thankfully the lyrics are on their site.
Deception: : A song you can really move to and still rock out to. Sharan’s voice is just amazing. I like the almost pause at around :55. Tempo change at 1:33 is an amazing placement. The song is one of those songs that you just listen to and can very easily lose yourself in.
Ecstasy Road: This song is also tied for my favorite song. A hard hitting song like this almost has hints of a GazettE song. “Welcome to the Ecstasy Road baby we’re getting high, welcome to the Ecstasy Road. Welcome to your death”. The obligatory sexy song that every band must have one of. It’s a nice one and the ending note is really bone chilling.
The Circus: It starts off with a haunting melody and kids playing. then you hear a gun being loaded, shots and screaming. Very headbang worthy…A slow song at times, but Sharan’s voice works really well with it. 2:10 tempo change and reminds me almost of origin. changes back at 2:40 to the haunting melody that is sure to get stuck in your head. As much as I loved it, it almost felt too long. “Let my existance decay”
Decade (Acoustic): Soft and quite lovely. It’s definitely easier to hear the nice tenor tones to Sharan’s voice. The acoustic guitar is quite an impressive change to the song. This song was the perfect way to end this album as it is a nice and easy chill down after the last song.
The songs showed this band’s variety especially when you look at the differences between songs such as “Imprisoned Heart”, “Decade” and “Fragile for a Reason”. I don’t think there could have been a better order to the songs, each song just simply led in to the next. I also liked the fact that the each and every song left you wanting more. When I heard the last note of “The Circus” I was a little disappointed that the road was over, but the addition of the acoustic version of “Decade” was a nice touch. I do kind of wish they had included the acoustic version of, “Origin”. They posted this version to their youtube, (http://youtu.be/BjmIyQUGXbM) and it just really shows off Sharan’s voice. This album is a great way to be introduced to this band and I really enjoyed listening to this album. It gets 4 stars out of 5 from me. This entire album is available for free download on their site, (http://karmia.asia/),but if you enjoy it I truly suggest buying their music on Amazon.
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