Karnak SetiIndependent Release
Portugal (Funchal, Madeira Islands based) outfit Karnak Seti have been around for the better part of a decade, but only managed to release their debut full-length effort ‘Scars Of Your Decay’ in 2009.
While the album slipped under the radar for most, those who happened to stumble across it gave it positive reviews. A few years on, and Karnak Seti has returned with a new line-up (Vocalist Luis Erre replaced Nelson Nascimento in 2009, and joins guitarists Antonio Jesus and Renato Ramo, bassist Claudio Aguiar and drummer Luis Barreto) and a new full-length effort in ‘In Harmonic Entropy’.
On ‘In Harmonic Entropy’, Karnak Seti have pushed their sound to even greater heights than anything heard on their previous effort, and the opening track ‘Long Gone Shadow’ is all the proof you need to hear. Sitting within the Arch Enemy/In Flames mould of melodic death metal, ‘Long Gone Shadow’ is stuffed with plenty of melodic riffs, solid backing from the rhythm section, tempo changes and melodic lead work, and some solid and memorable growled melodies courtesy of new front man Erre. Although far from original or groundbreaking, the song has plenty going for it in terms of sounding enjoyable, and the production (By multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/producer Daniel Cardoso) is a definite improvement on anything the band has produced in the past.
The riff led follow-up tracks ‘Only Red Mist Descends’ (The second single from the album) and ‘Among The Sleepless’ (Which features guest backing vocals from Cardoso and the first single from the album) are perfect mixes of aggressive verses and keyboard injected melodic choruses (Juan Pestana provides the keyboards), while the fierce ‘Loss’ and the aggressive ‘Golden Age Of Downfalls’ reveal a touch of metalcore to the band’s melodic death metal sound with their choppy riffing and dominate drum presence.
‘Luctor Et Emergo’, which is Latin for ‘I Struggle And Emerge’, is a little slower in pacing and has a greater emphasis on the riff structures and the vocals from Erre, and is perhaps the only track that fails to deliver on the chorus front. But more than making up this lack is the lengthy ‘Stranded By Existence’ and its follow-up ‘Figureless Icons’, both of which steer a little away from the standard melodic death metal sound to allow more progression and experimental elements to take the lead – even if some of the keyboard sounds are a little too high in the mix.
Finishing up the album is ‘Collateral Dreams’, which is a track that’s been in the band’s repertoire since 2005 (Appearing on the band’s demo with the same name), and has already been recorded a couple of times. This however is considered to be the definitive version of ‘Collateral Dreams’ - And it sounds great. By far the heaviest track on the album, the song does deviate from the aggressive parts to allow for a little more experimentation in the atmospheric sense, which only helps to give the song a genuine epic feel as a whole.
Karnak Seti is far from a well known group, but on the strength of ‘In Harmonic Entropy’, it won’t take long for the band’s name to be dropped amongst journalists as one of Portugal’s best kept secrets.
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