Review: Karma Rassa – Khmel’

Style: Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock, Post-Metal (mixed vocals, majority clean; Russian lyrics)
Recommended for fans of: Riverside, Porcupine Tree, Toundra, Kingcrow
Review by: Doug
Country: Russia
Release date: 13 January, 2023

The age of digital music brings both boon and bane to our great community. Although commercial online platforms like Spotify doubtless carry negative influences as they demand hefty revenue cuts and push more aggressive release schedules with algorithmic discovery, they equally enable artists to share music with unparalleled ease and reach. Karma Rassa, like many underground bands, have settled into that digitally-enabled niche, taking the opportunity to develop their art through four album releases over a nine-year period, never gathering widespread attention despite their steady improvement in that time. Khmel’, the latest of these albums, demonstrates both the band’s continued development and their resilience when faced with little metric recognition from these all-consuming platforms.

Although not as great a step forward as 2018’s Vesna…Snova Vesna was for the band, Khmel’ upholds Snova Vesna’s tight production and performance, making them sound in many ways like a more professional group with more resources to flex than they have in truth. They also experiment with instrumentation, making wider use of saxophone (“Drevesa,” “A Cosmic Laughter,” “Khmel’”) and violin (“The Unprecedentedness”) as well as implementing a variety of synth effects. This leads to a more diverse sound across the album, but also a less consistent and focused one. Where Snova Vesna carried a consistently captivating and ethereal-edged tone, Khmel’ is not so steady in its presentation; although the increased variety shows more developed talent from the performers, that talent is also let down by the album’s low points (such as “Fathers” and “Yelikamni”) where the atmosphere doesn’t come together as strongly.

Where, then, do Karma Rassa shine? Their primary approach is a piano-peppered heavy progressive rock sound delicately straddling the boundary with progressive metal (especially in certain songs like “The One Who Chews the Sea”) blended with light post-rock effects that lend their music an airy atmosphere. In the songs where these fundamentals feature most, like “The One Who Chews the Sea” and “A Cosmic Laughter,” the balance of opposing high and low energy elements settles the music into a compelling energetic-but-soothing groove. Those tracks more directly build upon the band’s musical lineage to present something novel, but still just as engaging as their prior albums – if not moreso.

In the interim sections of the album, however, melodies and atmosphere alike get bogged down in unexciting, repetitive motifs which develop little throughout each song and certainly don’t demonstrate the band members’ skills to their fullest extent. Gone is the serene balance of heavy and soft; no longer does singer Nagual’s voice settle cleanly in between the layers of music, a bridge uniting the band’s unique blend of styles into a clear and consistent presentation of artistry. Instead, the musical thread frays, its parts standing separately, weakened by their disunity. None of it is awful – nothing so dramatic. But I know Karma Rassa are capable of a lot of impressive things, and it’s disappointing to see that capability not fully realized.

If the whole album were as focused as its highlight moments, the increased level of polish might have carried this to be Karma Rassa’s best release yet. While this unfortunately isn’t the case, Khmel’ nevertheless delivers quality and engaging music put together by a lesser-known group with outsized talent. Karma Rassa synthesize elements of various styles into a combinatorial form all their own, and while I prefer when they have confidence in that style and allow its focused expression to speak for itself, I can’t deny that I enjoyed my time exploring this album and its new directions.

Recommended tracks: The One Who Chews the Sea, Drevesa, A Cosmic Laughter, The Unprecedentedness
You may also like: In the Silence, Echoes and Signals, Chaos Divine, Early Cross
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent

Karma Rassa is:
– Nagual (vocals, bass, acoustic guitars, russian harp, keyboards, additional sounds)
– Naar (guitars)
– Idegen (guitars, saxophone)
– Albe (drums)
With guests:
– Maria Lebedeva (violin, “The Unprecedentedness”)
– Ivan & Vasya (choir; “Fathers”, “Honey of the Universe”, “A Cosmic Laughter”, “Drevesa” )
– Grand Awakener (choir, “Drevesa”)
– Nikolay Skripnick (spoken word, “Drevesa”)
– Serezha Eremishin (spoken word, “A Cosmic Laughter”)