### Karmic Kick: Enter angels

#### 05/12/12 || Averatu

Karmic Kick need a swift kick in the pants for various reasons, and yes, I went for the obvious line there.

Firstly, for the life of me I cant see why the fuck, why they would want a review from GD?!! We deal in death metal, and black metal, and all other forms of devil worship. Two tracks on this album might at a stretch qualify as doom, but then you really have to close your eyes and listen very hard to hear it. This now raises another issue.

This is a compilation, not an album. There are various styles of music presented, from Filter meets ‘Tallica 90’s chug rock, to ethereal country rock, to the aforementioned doomie tracks. But mostly 90’s hard rock, in fact my lady asked me why I was listening to ”The Crow” soundtrack. On top of that, every other track has a different vocalist, just check the line-up listed below. We also have the obligatory Rhino song, a staple for any South African and worth their salt . But wait, there’s more, we’re also presented with a rocked up version of Shosholoza, which is a African traditional song that is mostly sung at sports events because its the only African song us lazy white peoples ever learn, so you’ll get a lot of dunk farmers singing along to that one (and the metal-heads will be at home playing games).

On the plus side, Karmic Kick are the first submission I’ve had from South Africa (most bands walk big circles around me these days). All the music is well executed, and the album is pretty well recorded and mixed, although the guitar sound could do with a whole lot more meat. As a whole the album is under produced though. The songs end up running one into the other due to the way the guitars are played, every other verse is chug, chugga chugga chug, hence the ‘Tallica reference earlier. If you can manage to tune out the stupid fake American accent, the vocals are quite exceptional for a South African band, but no screaming or growling worth mentioning, its all the in the offensive melodic style of singing that us metal-heads abhor so much.

Karmic Kick should cut the flab and focus their efforts on what they’re good at, you cant please everyone. They should also figure out where Nickelback gets their albums reviewed, and please send their stuff there in future, please. Even though this is nowhere near my cup of tea, I must admit the songs are pretty well written with hooks abound.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Self-released
- Website: Karmic Kick Facebook
- Band
- Rikus Nieuwenhuis: drums, guitar, bass
- Jurgen von Wechmar: guitar
- Jesse Jordan: vocals
- Rudolph Keown: vocals
- Melissa van der Spuy: keys, vocals
- Andre Nieuwenhuis: vocals

- Tracklist
- 1. Beat on
- 2. Forever surfing the light
- 3. Noise inc
- 4. Shosholoza (Me gusta vidar)
- 5. Bending time
- 6. Free the fire
- 7. Taking from the skies
- 8. One more horn
- 9. White pipe
- 10. Enter angels
- 11. Sedes sapientiae
- 12. Providence
- 13. Full moon solstice
- 14 .The scars of joy
- 15. Angel’s playground