Artist Karnivool

Founded by vocalist Ian Kenny as a high-school band with a repertoire largely dependent on Nirvana covers, Karnivool has progressed over the space of a decade-plus to become something of an Australian equivalent of Tool. The band’s live show isn’t anywhere near the theatrical spectacle staged by Maynard James Keenan and Co., but the songs on the 2009 Karnivool full-length Sound Awake slither through their multiple parts and odd time signatures as well as anything on 10,000 Days. Throughout the record, growling bass and pealing, atmospheric guitars explode into anthemic choruses that find Kenny screaming from the edge of a cliff in a voice that’s one part Keenan-esque anguish to two-parts of Thom Yorke’s anxiety.

Updated 08/13/2010