Themata
Ian Kenny gives Themata its most useful point of balance. His singing can rise above Karnivool's heavy, tightly patterned guitars without sounding detached from them. The melodies invite you into music that keeps making the ground feel slightly uneven.
C.O.T.E. introduces that relationship with particular confidence. The instrumental parts leave room around the vocal before closing in with greater force, and the movement between those states makes the song feel larger than its individual sections. Kenny supplies a clear emotional direction while the band find less obvious routes beneath him.
The title track is more immediately forceful. Its central guitar figure has a strong physical pull, and the chorus opens the sound without abandoning that weight. Small details around the riff help the arrangement feel distinctive. Karnivool understand that a difficult rhythmic shape still needs a reason to stay in your head.
Roquefort gives the low end a broad, swaggering presence. The riff is the attraction, though the changes into more expansive passages occasionally feel less natural than the opening attack. The band are strongest when heaviness and melody appear to be driving each other, rather than taking turns to demonstrate their separate qualities.
There are welcome changes of scale elsewhere. Sewn and Silent exposes a gentler side through acoustic textures, making the singing feel closer and less protected. Synops brings electronic sounds into the picture, while Scarabs provides a shorter burst of aggression. These choices keep the album from depending entirely on another large chorus.
The regular return to a similar middle pace does limit some of the contrast between songs. Even so, the performances have enough detail and personality to make the shared approach rewarding. The bass is an active presence, and the guitars can provide atmosphere as effectively as impact.
Themata succeeds through the strength of its songs before any claim about its technical ambition becomes necessary. C.O.T.E. and the title track would remain convincing with fewer intricacies because their melodies and dynamic movement already communicate so much. The more unusual instrumental touches give those foundations an appealingly restless character.
