| The Defaced Karma In Black |
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Full Review | User Ratings (1) |
| Tracklist:
1. Fumes From the Swamp
2. Once in Between
3. 10 vs. 9
4. Exit Body on Mass
5. Beneath My Swirl
6. A Moment of Clarity
7. The Fading Suns
8. Soulsides
9. Forever Winding
10. Karma In Black
Release Date: 2003 | |
| Recommended by Reviewer:
Passenger - Passenger
Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos
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| Summary: A middle-of-the-road Swedish side project featuring members of Darkane and Soilwork. Also inside: a delicious recipe. |
How many of you have a recipe that you are particularly proud of, or can make something delicious that you can whip up on your own (sorry, Ramen fans) in one hot minute or two? I am a milkshake fiend. No, mine doesn't bring all the boys to the yard, but damn right, the Jom Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich Shake is better than yours:
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1 tbs chocolate syrup
- 1 frozen banana (peeled, morons)
- 3 tbs peanut butter
Blend for 1-2 minutes or until nice and smooth. The version above is the healthy breakfast version - for the make-you-fat version, substitute yogurt for vanilla ice cream and add more peanut butter and chocolate. Does the peanut butter matter? No - it depends on if you're a chunky or a creamy fellow (or if you can handle Nutella. If you're like Sputnikmusic staffer Kyle Banick/Kage, you might shoot for organic peanut butter). Jom is not a choosy mom, but Jom chooses Jif anyway, and Hershey's chocolate syrup seems to have a monopoly on the market, so go with that. Want to make the shake sweeter? Add honey and/or brown sugar and/or maple syrup instead of (or, if you're feeling frisky, in addition to) the chocolate syrup. Lactose intolerant? Substitute soy milk (pro tip: soy milk doesn't spoil as fast as regular milk) - just bear in mind that a 1 cup : 1 cup liquid:solid ratio will give you a nice, drinkable viscosity.
At this point, you've either left to go give the recipe a shot or you're wondering where the hell I'm going with this.
The thing about recipes is that you can manipulate them to your tastes, as desired, without fucking everything up too badly. I've provided for you a formula and set you up for success, now the onus is on you to pull it off without shitting the bed.
The same can be said about the Gothenburg-tinged style of melo-death: give any identity-less band this blueprint handed down by The Three Kings of Gothenburg - At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames - and allow this band to tweak and adjust to their strengths, you can get some great results (Soilwork, Scar Symmetry) and some dreadful results (Sonic Syndicate).
With Helsingborg's The Defaced, you have a side-project involving members of Darkane (Klas Ideberg, Jörgen Löfberg), Soilwork (Henry Ranta), and Kayser (Swaney), with Henrik Sjöwall handling vocal duties. While the band has undergone numerous metamorphoses and line-up changes since, these are the players on 2003's Karma In Black, and the end result is a heavier, but eerily familiar version of Passenger (comprised of members of In Flames, Gardenian, and Transport League): a solid batch of tunes that are adversely affected by following the Gothenburg paint-by-numbers formula to a 't:' melodic guitars placed front-and-center in the mix (where they should be) + atmospheric keyboards and synths to complement a heavier rhythm section + nice, clean production + emphasis on clean over guttural vocals, especially in typically-catchy choruses = you get the idea by now.
Karma In Black's first half is stronger than the latter half, but this can be attributed to hearing five formulaic tracks that have just a little bit more to offer in the first five tracks. Album opener "Fumes from the Swamp's" first thirty seconds sport shrill bends juxtaposed by a Meshuggah-lite rhythm, but this passage gives way to a headbang-worthy thrash riff that has plenty of groove. The album's groove is pretty omnipresent throughout the record and comes in many forms, from the heavier tracks (the aforementioned "Fumes from the Swamp," on "The Fading Suns" until the song drops in tempo a la Machine Head, "Beneath My Swirl") as well as the nu-metal-esque numbers ("10 vs. 9," "A Moment of Clarity," "Exit Body on Mass").
The Defaced's wildcard on this record is vocalist Henrik Sjöwall, who has a standard throaty death growl but an underrated clean vocal. His most complete-package performances are on the record's first two tracks ("Fumes from the Swamp" and "Once In Between") as well as in album highlight "Forever Winding." In "Once In Between," Sjöwall's harsh verses are offset by a very old-school Soilwork clean vocal, and his lyricism is memorable ("The point of liberation, stranger than fiction / Where are my angels in this opium dream? / . . . Insidious lullabies or something that justifies / Where I once stood in what I believed / All turned out to be the falsest of paths"). The thrashy groove and heavy Ranta-driven double bass sets a stunning backdrop here and on the anthemic "Fumes from the Swamp" (Sjöwall's shouts of "Rise, for freedom we unite / . . . Fear the change, we evolve like fumes from the swamp" are balanced extremely well by Ideberg, Löfberg, and Swaney with Ranta wreaking havoc behind the kit). The rhythm section is characteristically solid - Ranta is an outstanding drummer regardless of which band he's playing in - and the guitars deliver the expected melody with a mix of some decent and some uninspired solos.
Karma In Black's biggest flaw, again, is the insistence to follow the Gothenburg blueprint so closely without The Defaced staking any individual identifying claim to make it their own. All ten songs are good songs, but they're not anything you haven't heard before. For every singular element heard in a specific song, you've heard an entire "Soulsides" or "Karma In Black" before. There are other minor squabbles with the record, with the most irritating being the band's insistence to build and build upon a thrashy groove before cutting the tempo nearly in half and turning it into a soulless nu-metal heap. In "Exit Body on Mass," Sjöwall's writing takes a turn for the worse, and, in turn, sounds like a deadpan Corey Taylor.
Listeners should not expect to hear a guitar lead-driven record or anything resembling Darkane, but there is an acceptable amount of melody to compensate for the lack of ingenuity. Sjöwall's lyricism and vocals are above-average but don't suck you in like most of his Helsingborg or Gothenburg contemporaries. The rhythm section is tight - the bass is pushed way too far down in the mix on the whole, unfortunately - and the thrashy grooves make for a decent listen. By no means does Karma In Black tread new ground or stake claim to new foundation - rather, it's a short-of-forty-minutes paint-by-numbers affair with a couple unique twists in it - but it is a passable side-project, just as Passenger was.
C+
Jom recommends:
Once In Between
Fumes from the Swamp
Forever Winding
A Moment of Clarity
Beneath My Swirl
The Jom Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich Shake
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| Recent reviews by this author | | |
Jom totally stole my fire for my next review. I was gonna use another cooking device. **** you, Jom.
(ps good review and I dont think I'll hit this up)
Digging: Cynic - Traced In Air
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I recommend trying organic peanut butter in that recipe, would taste amazing
Digging: The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
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Jom totally stole my fire for my next review. I was gonna use another cooking device. **** you, Jom.
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I recommend trying organic peanut butter in that recipe, would taste amazing
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I'll give you your props in the review.
Digging: Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows | | |
That made me hungry. I think I'm gonna go try that.
Edit: Guess who has a new favorite snack 
This Message Edited On 10.04.08
Digging: Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame
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I saw the summary on the front page and immediately thought "Tyler Munro." But it was you!
And I saw the recipe format and immediately thought "oh god, it's not gonna be one of those awful 'take a tablespoon of grim black metal...' dealies, is it?" But it was an excellent review so I needn't have ever worried!
Digging: Have A Nice Life - Deathconsciousness
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Hahaha. I hate those dealies, especially of the tr00gr1mblakmettlez variety.
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Fantastic review... not a banana fan myself, though D :
Digging: United Nations - United Nations
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simply awesome.
Digging: Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me
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I'm gonna try out that recipe at some point...sounds like my kinda thing...
This album however...does not...
Digging: A Days Refrain/Neil Perry - A Days Refrain/Neil Perry Split - EP
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^ I highly recommend Jom's recipe.
btw I've only tried the "make you fat" version.
This Message Edited On 10.04.08
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I recommend trying organic peanut butter in that recipe, would taste amazing
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So by tasting amazing, you mean tasteless? hahahaha
Jom, your review was so well done that I think I may go try out your recipe  .
Digging: Enslaved - Vertebrae
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Peanut-butter and banana sandwich...I think, I will pass on that one
Digging: Draconian - Turning Season Within
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^Agreed.
You say they follow the formula to a 't'...but can any band really follow it more closely than Soilwork?
Digging: Underoath - Lost In The Sound Of Separation
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It's alright. Some songs remind me more of Darkane's playing (though definitely not up to par) but the whole sing/song thing or at least the way they break into choruses reminds me of Soilwork.
You gave a good review. Not so much my type though...His clean vocals are actually pretty good, but it's too abrupt for me (the transitions.)
Digging: The Faceless - Planetary Duality
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this review is devoid of nutritional value
Digging: Mesa Verde - The Old Road
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Fantastic representation of organic food products taking place here. Bravo, Kage, Bravo. Nice review, you sold me on organic. I haven't listened to enoug Darkane to recognize the patterns but I have indulged in my fair share of Soilwork/Disarmonia Mundi. I will acquire this illegally.
Digging: Innerpartysystem - Innerpartysystem
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i'm totally trying that recipe... or at least i would if i owned a blender.... ****.
great review, although i doubt i'll be checking these guys out either way, i've kinda burned myself out on melo-death recently, i need a break from it.
Digging: Analogik - Søen's Folk
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good recipe
Digging: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
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best review intro paragraph ever.
Digging: SikTh - The Trees Are Dead And Dried Out
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I've been having one of those shakes for breakfast for like the past two weeks
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