"Supergroup" is a tag normally attached to projects formed from members of high profile rock bands.
It's arguable if I Mother Earth, Our Lady Peace and
The Tea Party ever quite reached the level of fame to qualify.
Still, this coming together of talent is a considerable force to be reckoned with.
Crash Karma is Edwin Ghazal (IME), Mike Turner (OLP), Jeff Burrows (TP) and Amir Epstein of Zygote (and the driving force behind this recording).
In the unlikely event that there are fans of alt rock out there who haven't heard any IME or OLP albums,
Crash Karma will be a revelation.
If Our Lady Peace was the alt rock giant who strode the globe in the late nineties and early 2000s, invisible to rock philistines, but viewed in awe by the cognoscenti, then
Crash Karma is the son who follows in his father's footsteps.
That said, the band's four part chemistry takes a while to ignite - you really need to listen to this album several, non-judgemental times before it takes flight.
The influence of Ghazal, architect of one of alt rock's greatest anthems, 'Alive' is immediately apparent on anthemic opener,
'Like A Wave' and on the majestic second track,
'Awake'.
'Next Life' and
'Lost' - alternating between aggro stomp and hypnotically drifting passages - greatly benefit from hooks that rise triumphantly on Mike Turner's guitar swell.
It's about this point that two things become apparent: The band's joint production effort has added epic to alt rock; and Burrows and Epstein are a formidable rhythmic force, unobtrusive but impressively effective.
With
'Fight' and
'The Man I Used To Be' it turns into a real hard rock album. Ghazal's aggressive lyrics and combative vocals, pounding percussion and thundering riffs all play their part.
But just when you think the recording has lost something special as a result of taking an obvious route, they come up with the fabulous
'Energy', a tighter, pacier, emotionally loaded construction; and the sharply observational '
Not About Anger', like Squeeze on an alt rock trip through North America's 21
st century neuroses.
This debut is never easy listening. It takes time and work. But the reward is worth it.
Written by
Brian Thursday, July 29, 2010
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