Genre : Melodic thall, Djent, Progressive metal
Released : May 12th, 2023
Label : Self-release
FFO : Vildhjarta, Vola, The Contortionist, Disperse
Following the long-awaited return of Swedish progressive metal pioneers Vildhjarta in 2021 along with the rise in popularity of joint project Humanity's Last Breath with their last two albums, what originated as a niche alteration of djent jokingly coined as "thall" has since then seeped its way into the blueprint for modern metalcore and progressive metal for better or worse ; even finding its way to much broader audiences thanks to the likes of Animals As Leaders, Polyphia and of course Sleep Token joining in on the thrill of the new "thall" trend in heavy music with its recognizable down-pitched guitar tones, atmosphere and signature bends.
Where in some areas of metalcore, taking a page out of the thall book to spice up your breakdowns in a very straightforward imitation of the style is already becoming a bit of a predictable gimmick, in comes Karmanjakah.
(Photography: Elin Laghammar ; Styling/set design: Kassandra Widmark Utas)
This underground Swedish band whom you may have spotted the name of in the small prints of major European prog metal festivals such as Euroblast or UK Tech-Fest in recent years have their very own unique spin on thall as their debut 2021 full-length "A Book About Itself" already hinted at and which their new EP "Ancient Skills" further explores and develops.
When you think "thall", you probably think of dynamic riffs that juggle between being stupidly low and heavy while contrasting that with higher pitched, slightly dissonant bends with some reverbed and delayed guitar layers in the background building atmosphere.
You also may think of the feeling of sorrow or languishing these sounds can evoke when you're not getting slammed with disgustingly heavy riffs that effortlessly bring out your best stank face.
Generally speaking, although there is beauty to be found in heaps in this sub-genre, the emotional response triggered by its unconventional sonic palette is usually not the most cheery or uplifting.
And yet, as "Ancient Skills" opening track "Breathing" welcomingly soothes in the listener with a gentle accoustic guitar (or harp?) chord progression; it then bursts into a dynamic, upbeat swirling riff that definitely has a recognizably thall style of intonation and phrasing but instead of feeling menacing or forlorn, it immediately boosts the track with an overpowering sense of joy and positive energy.
Right off the bat, Karmanjakah approach thall in a much "brighter", major key-sounding style which, although conserving the sub-genre's technical trademarks, breathes new meaning and emotional depth into it.
Now, I know that Vildhjarta actually have a lot of songs in major key but since they use odd tunings and there's a ton of automated pitch-shifting involved, I'd probably make a fool of myself if I attempted to go for a more music theory driven analysis, so let's just dumb it down into saying : most thall usually has a dark, minor key feel to it and Karmanjakah's songwriting stands in stark contrast with what you would usually expect from the sub-genre.
Jonas Lundquist's crooning and soaring clean vocals cement the light, ethereal feel-good tone of the track and there's even a bit of an almost missable stylistic nod to reggae music in the instrumentation as the vocals first enter in.
As the track unfolds and Viggo Örsan's guitar work dances around the vocals, even as the band locks in for a spaced-out breakdown maintaining the energy, things never reach a point where they feel hostile.
"Flying" and its piano intro accompanied by the air-tight and punchy drumming of Sebastian Brydniak brings an even more introspective and nostalgic feel to Karmanjakah's music on "Ancient Skills", which is enhanced even further by the EP's official visualizer and music videos, capturing what feels like the warm sunlight of peaceful nostalgic summers long gone.
Thall bends intermingle with piano and accoustic guitar arrangements as Jonas occasionally ascends into falsettos before delivering an incredibly catchy vocal hook for the track's chorus.
Both Viggo's and bassist Lukas Ohlsson's lower end provides a perfect dynamic counterpoint to the soaring vocals, and the usage of spacing that is crucial to riff efficiency in thall enables the listener to appreciate the layers of instrumentation happening in the background.
As the EP's title is name-dropped in "Writing", things take an arguably even mellower turn with vocal harmonies that bring to mind "Language" era The Contortionist before some djenty guitar work takes over the track and vocals weave in and out of the syncopated accents before evolving into a tasteful solo.
"Listening" is the fourth and final track of the project and also its lengthiest, making full use of the band's songwriting chops, allowing them to play around with different ideas while making the song progress in a cohesive manner throughout its six minutes.
A highlight of the track occurs during its mid-point in the form of a brief but surprising and delightful middle-eastern bouzouq (or at least an instrument of the same branch) solo.
Again, I won't attempt diving into the music theory behind why such an instrument and the way in which it is traditionally played fits so well into the stylings of thall, but I would venture to assume that they both make use of similar scales and modes.
Followed by a calm and pensive, slightly jazzy bridge section, the track eventually concludes with yet another great use of spaced-out riffs and rhythmical syncopation.
If I were to boil down "Ancient Skills" into an ignorant and frankly quite goofy statement, I would simply say : «Emotional thall y'all» or «We be thallin', we be vibin'».
But if I were to give my actual proper overall impressions of "Ancient Skills" more eloquently :
I would say that Karmanjakah have done a fantastic job on this twenty minute, four track EP in crafting a sound based on a pre-existing foundation but making it well and truly their own, creating something new entirely instead of purely imitating or copying since as of today, as far as I know, there are no other bands out there who have remodeled the clay of djent, thall and progressive metal to sound like what can be heard on "Ancient Skills".
It sounds like a ready-made statement but I genuinely mean it when I say that if this is a preview of things to come in the future from Karmanjakah and what they decide to do with their sound, then a lot more people who enjoy this style of modern metal should begin paying attention to what these guys are making.
For now though, "Ancient Skills" is easily among the best crafted EP's I've heard in 2023 thus far, and stands its own ground as firmly as a fully fledged full-length release could.
