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Bands are like sharks: if they stop swimming, they die. Fail to drip-feed product and content for even short period, states modern music industry wisdom, and you’ll be overtaken by younger, hungrier, hairier prospects. All of this, it seems, is news to Karnivool. Not only are the Australian prog-metallers about to release a new album with tracks that average a TikTok-unfriendly seven minutes, they’ve also made us wait 12 years to hear it.
“It’s an all-encompassing thing to get a Karnivool album across the line,” guitarist Drew Goddard says, with the laser-cutter stare that is his default facial expression. “The process has never been easy for us. Every time we write a song, it’s a strange, mysterious, unique challenge.”
Karnivool have not been in the pages of Classic Rock since a short but stellar review for 2013’s Asymmetry (“A hugely seductive collection,” Paul Brannigan enthused). There’s a simple reason for that: tour tickets aside, they had nothing to sell. That the Perth-formed five-piece have a fan base to come back to more than a decade later speaks of the strength of their early records – Asymmetry was preceded by 2005’s Themata and 2009’s Sound Awake – and the shuddering potency of 2026’s In Verses.
On this fourth record, it’s thrilling to be reminded of what happens when these bogglingly adept musicians put their heads together. Standouts like Ghost, Remote Self Control and recent single Drone fuse jawbreaker riffs to tricky time signatures. Even better, and unlike some muso bands, it’s feasible to sing along with vocalist Ian Kenny’s wounded melodies.
“Asymmetry was a very dissonant, atonal sort of record,” explains bassist Jon Stockman. “With In Verses we were ready for some nice choruses.”
That desire to push the limits was there from the start. More than a quarter-century ago, Karnivool, from the less fashionable west coast of Australia, evolved from a Perth high-school band who definitely weren’t going to play your beach BBQ.
“There’s that Australian culture that people overseas think about – the sun and beach,” says Goddard. “But dark things have happened on that soil and that played into our music. I had a great upbringing with loving parents. I was always just drawn to music with dark, negative emotions.”
When asked if his own lyrics dig into the black times we’re living through, the guitarist winces. Frustratingly, Karnivool are one of those bands who don’t discuss song meanings (“We like to keep it ambiguous”). They’re more forthcoming on their founding influences, which stray far beyond familiar comparisons with Tool. “We’re definitely trying to be the ambassadors for what Australian music can be,” says Stockman.
“Soundgarden was a heavy one,” picks up Goddard. “That’s where the weird tunings and odd time signatures come from. Radiohead were influential. Meshuggah is the herb that permeates the whole dish. But R&B, folk, jazz, blues, all sorts of stuff has crept in over the years.”
Understandably, then, nobody quite knew what to do with Karnivool. Stockman remembers punishing support slots with visiting metallers like Fear Factory and Sepultura (“They’re much heavier than us and there were definitely complaints”). But gradually the band found their tribe, becoming the focal point of Australia’s prog scene, and then invited across the globe.
“We played Mumbai for the first time in 2011, and we’ve been back five times,” says Goddard. “The production has changed a lot over the years. I remember watching it all come together on the day of the first gig, with bamboo scaffolding. Let’s just say Health And Safety wasn’t like in Australia.”
“There was one gig where I remember Drew got electrocuted through his guitar, because he plays in bare feet,” Stockman says, laughing, as talk turns to on-the-road war stories. “I didn’t even realise. I was like: ‘Why are you doing a big cockrock move?’ But he was getting electrocuted!”
So if near-death couldn’t stop them, what was it that slowed Karnivool down? Today, neither musician can give a definitive answer. It seems the long gestation of In Verses boils down to some combination of indecision, quality control, family responsibilities and sideprojects (“I played in a Nirvana covers band after Asymmetry,” recalls Goddard. “Beating the hell out of the drums was so cathartic for me”).
“I don’t recommend sitting on ideas for that long,” says the guitarist. “We had a failed attempt at starting back in 2016. Things happen slowly and meticulously in the Karnivool world. Most of the time it’s hard work and problem-solving. There were moments where I wondered if it was ever gonna get finished and if the band would even continue. We were just chipping away until around 2023, when we collectively said: ‘People are really into this band and we love it still, so let’s finish this.’ In the past year there was this constant movement, and it felt overwhelming sometimes.”
They’ll find out where they stand commercially when In Verses is released. But fans who kept the faith will find plenty of chewy, ambitious, shapeshifting material here, offering a tonic in the age of the two-second attention span. Drone is perhaps the pick, Goddard letting slip that its wide-open rumble is inspired by the deserts of Western Australia. “My way of de-fragging was driving out there and seeing the colours change. That red dirt gets into everything. Into your amp. Into your soul. The chorus is almost like a pop song, but then it’s got the heaviest riff. There are introspective moments on this record, and songs to get the blood flowing. The way Steve [Judd] hits the drums, I’m surprised I haven’t got more hearing loss.”
Drone is not the only track that shakes your bones, with long-time collaborator Forrester Savell’s production ensuring these new songs feel visceral, not intellectual.
“Remote Self Control and All It Takes are definitely candidates for the heaviest song,” says Stockman. “We’ve played Ghost live already and that’s ferocious. When you perform a song, that’s its proper birth for me. And with the shows we’re playing now, you definitely need to dry your shirt out afterwards.”
They have the album in the can. They have live dates in the diary. Right now – in a development that seemed unthinkable just a few months ago – Karnivool are on a roll.
“There was other material that we left on the cutting room floor and it’s some of my favourite stuff,” says Goddard. “That makes me want to keep going. I’m excited about the future with Karnivool. We don’t know when the next album is coming. But hopefully it’ll be quicker. There’ll probably be a few more grey hairs next time we speak to you – but hopefully not all grey.”
In Verses is out now via Cymatic/Sony Music.
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