Karnivool / Monuments [Live Review – The Roundhouse, Camden, 28/3/2015]
On the way to this show, I was propositioned by a prostitute; had a guy try to sell me a bible; and was challenged to a fight by a homeless man.
All in the same McDonald’s.
Thanks to my quest to avoid bruises, black eyes, STIs, and religion, I wound up missing a fair part of Monuments‘ set. Gutted. Still, I did manage to catch an epically intense run-through of Atlas – which was enough to remind me to listen to The Amanuensis more often. Fuck me, is it tasty.
Having spent time in the company of some of London’s creepiest creeps, getting blown away by one of the best progressive metal bands on the planet while surrounded by Karnivool‘s entirely douchebag-free audience was all the more satisfying. Seriously: Karnivool have managed to attract some of the smartest, nicest, and most generally badass metal fans ever. Fair play.
Decent sound; a legendary venue; a bunch of mates and friendly strangers. What else could you ask for? Well, in this case, we got a full career retrospective set spanning every Karnivool release to date. C.O.T.E.; Shutterspeed; Roquefort (featuring Monuments frontman Chris Barretto on sax); a fucking hench Themata; Goliath; Set Fire to the Hive; All I Know; a nod to Pink Floyd during the intro to Deadman; New Day; and a four-song Asymmety-centric encore in Alpha Omega, We Are, The Refusal and Aeons – bear in mind the running times of some of those tracks, and you have a sense of how gloriously, tastefully excessive this set was.
It’s heartwarming to see such a worthy band pushing themselves to new heights in a city half a planet away from their home country. Next time Karnivool come to your town, be there.
Links
The Roundhouse official website.
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