Release Date: August 23rd 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
The Space Camaro: Tracklisting
Space Camaro
The Purge
Dominion
Gravity Mirror
Members
Vocals/Guitars: Andrew Cannell
Bass/Vocals: Sean Frankruyter
Drums: Jacob Jansen
Review
This excellent EP from Dead Karma pays tribute to classic heavy metal while breaking new ground in the heavy underground. Excellent song writing and expert musicianship keep this EP smoking from start to finish, never letting its foot off the gas as it speeds you into stoner metal Nirvana (the place, not the band winky winky).
Dead Karma is a 3 piece band from Kitchener, Ontario Canada. The players are Andrew Cannell (vocals and guitar); Sean Frankruyter (bass and vocals); and Jacob Jansen on drums. This record, The Space Camaro will be released on August 23, 2024.
This 30 minute long EP jumps right in with a classic heavy metal riff reminiscent of the mid 1980s. This opening quickly escalates into a heavy stoner rock riff. This song is fast and plays like a guy driving a car too quickly down a residential road, barely keeping off the sidewalks! The Space Camaro definitely creates visions of a hot, cherry red 1968 Camaro destroying everything in its path. This is a rocker, pure and simple. This track is so in your face you will feel the melt. I love guitar solos and the one on the opening track is furious, and pulls the listener down a twisting path of insanity…only held together by a killer rhythm section that keeps the song from flying into a cosmic ditch.
The Purge…just as brutal as it sounds, this smoking desert rocker is fuelled by heavy duty vocals, clean but with a very grungy punky edge. The guitars cut like chainsaws between verses and the drums are relentless in their heavy driving beats.This is heavy ass, riff laden rock and roll. Nothing but bash your head heaviness from the band on this cut. The song takes a cool turn about 3/4th through and the whole thing just explodes after a sweet bass solo into cacophony of chaos and puts you on a psycho path surely destined for hell itself. The weak will not survive The Purge…it's a killer!
Dominion - Another ridiculously heavy riff reminiscent of 80's Judas Priest morphing into a classic speed doom stoner rocker here. The vocals are really awesome, great tone and placed properly in the mix inline with stoner rock tradition. The vocals decry a love for classic heavy metal tones, recalling voices from bands like Iron Maiden, Dio and of course the aforementioned Priest. But this isn’t some rehash from the past, these songs are fresh and definitely carry the signature of the heavy underground. Heavy riffing, fuzzy distortion, stoner rock themes and excellent mixing of all band elements make this a super fun record to jam out too while rolling up a joint or enjoying a nice dab.
Dominion is a nice adventure, starting out as described above…about halfway through the song goes on a sonic journey. The guitar solo is a fantastic, intelligent piece of work that weaves in between a classic solo and a wandering space odyssey that harkens to modern space psy rockers such as Spaceslug. This is a strong track and I believe it will have great appeal to the heavy underground community.
Gravity Mirror is a straight up desert rocker. You can hear the Swedish influences here with the crushing guitars and the heavy pounding drums. The vocals are clean and sound amazing in the mix. Never overwhelming the overall sound; the vocals propel Gravity Mirror into an almost perfect heavy stoner anthem. This is another well crafted song with great lyrical content and everything melds well together creating moments of absolute cruising heaviness while retaining supreme listenability.
This EP doesn’t have a weak moment. It is a well crafted and nicely recorded record. The production values are very good and the album sounds amazing. The band made a great decision here by going all killer with no filler. Sometimes less is more and this EP, The Space Camaro is a perfect example. Like its namesake it's got insane power in the straightaways and you may find yourself hanging on for dear life through the curves. Sure it may run out of gas before you are tired of racing it, but isn’t that better than the ride getting boring? This ride definitely doesn’t get boring! Good stuff here, check out Dead Karma’s latest - The Space Camaro.
Words by S Patrick Brooks
Thanks to C Squared Music for the promo.
The Space Camaro will be available to buy on all good digital stockists from Friday August 23rd 2024.
Links
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