The Karma Heart - Throw Your Light review
Posted by Hunter on Wed, 31 Aug 2011.
Jenn Cherene – Vocals
Graham Haswell – Guitars
Lee Tuck – Bass Guitar and Weird Sounds
Phil The Beat – Drums and Percussion
The North East has a pedigree and history of producing some utterly legendary musicians and bands, from Brian Johnson to “The Wildhearts” (maybe we can forgive them for Sting), so when I heard of 4 piece rock outfit, The Karma Heart, I had high hopes. But can they deliver in what is a highly competitive genre fighting for radio airplay? Only once in a while do I get a CD that knocks my socks off and the only bands to have me totally hooked from their first few songs recently have been Alter Bridge, Godsized, Holy Coves, Mage, Slaves To Gravity and Logan. Every time one of my colleagues or friends makes the catastrophic error of admitting to not having heard of one of the bands above, I go into shock, usually then followed by “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF insert name of band from previous list.
Well, The Karma Heart are going to seriously increase my blood pressure because now I will find myself going into meltdown if someone admits to having not listened to their quite frankly bloody awesome debut album. The mark of a good song for me is when I find myself still humming it the next day. With Karma Heart, I’ve found myself humming virtually the whole album (and the “repeat all” option on my CD player has been used quite a few times lately because of this)! The vocals remind me a little of Janet Gardner, but for the most part, similarities will inevitably be drawn with Paramore. But there is so much more to this group then that. Just as you think it’s about to get predictable there’s a nice little subtle twist or flourish.
My personal favourites on the album are “The Fated”, “Honest Child” and “Gravitate”, and all three tracks had me going through the lyrics on the album inlay card so I could sing along (all be it very badly!). The performances on this are superb, with all the band members working together with a single purpose, and never is there a moment where one of the band threatens to overpower or become overly dominant. Throw your light is a gloriously slick, polished, and wonderfully full sounding album, and if you like the sound of Paramore, you are going to love this.
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To find out more about “The Karma Heart" you can find their website here: www.thekarmaheart.com