If you haven’t heard of this delightful four-piece Stockholm group, then no worries! Because I’m telling you about them now. Karmanjakah writes fantastic progressive metal with beautiful and complex chords, delicious riffs, and complex syncopated rhythms. They’re relatively new to the scene, first releasing their self-titled EP back in 2016. They followed this up with a full-length record in 2021 called, ‘A Book About Itself.’
Fast forward two years to now and they just released the first single for (what I assume will be) their second album. ‘Breathing‘ is at a slower tempo, but it’s super groovy and the vibes are immaculate. Vocals from Jonas Lundquist are clean and catchy, and I guarantee the melody will get stuck in your head after one listen. The whole song feels like some sort of a progressive, djenty lullaby… if that makes sense. I found it’s a really great song to just crank in my headphones or in the car and vibe to.
The song is yet another example of how sick Viggo Örsan is, and if you don’t believe me then you can go check out his playthrough of the new song here. The rhythm section is composed of bassist Lukas Ohlsson and drummer Sebastian Brydniak, and they do an amazing job of keeping this song moving powerfully and methodically. There’s also a really sick timing changeup towards the end of the song, which is something I’ve grown to expect from these masters of time.
Karmanjakah’s lyrics tend to be pretty insightful and introspective. There are often themes of nature, peace, and travel (both physical and mental). ‘Breathing‘ continues to follow these themes, and in my opinion sounds like it’s talking about meditation and self-discovery. The first clue is the song title itself, but there are also these lyrics:
Guidance,
Rhythmically uncovered
Within us
Simple, yet effective in getting the vibes across. I personally feel like this song comes to me at a time when I need a little bit of guidance from within, and to calm the turmoil surrounding my daily life.
If you were a big fan of The Safety Fire back in the day, I would say Viggo gives off the same kind of mastery of his instrument that Dez and Jo do. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic but I really think that some of the chords and riffs that they created are things not many are really producing in the progressive scene anymore. However, Karmanjakah is one exception to this, and Viggo’s chord choices are super interesting throughout their songs. They have a very unique power to them that I don’t feel from many bands. I would like to point out, though, that TSF and Karmanjakah are very different bands and it’s not an apples to apples comparison.
If you would like to support the band, go and buy their music on bandcamp, or visit their merch store. If you’d never heard of them before and really dig this song, then let me know in the comments and tell me what you think!
All image rights reserved to the band, Karmanjakah. I do not own any images used.
