The Karma Heart are here with their latest release ‘Throw Your Light’.   The album is a neat package of 11 tracks which, after a few listens, has left me scratching my head a little!  It’s not that this is a bad album, because it isn’t. It’s just missing something.  It really could be so much better, but I don’t want to simply come across as being some old cynic because there are some very good plus points on here.

There’s plenty of catchy choruses to sing along to, and the songs generally have the right mix of dirty, scuzzy edged guitar rock laced with a pop sensibility that would make several of these tracks appeal to a wide audience.  It reminds me of mid nineties rockers Bush, but with female vocals.  College radio would have a field day with some of the songs on here – album opener ‘The Fated’, ‘Gravitate’  and ‘Kamikazi Comraderie’ would go down a storm with that kind of audience, as would my standout track ‘Comin Undone’ with it’s punchy riff and anthemic chorus.

My main issue with this album is that I can’t help feeling that the band are holding back a bit.  There’s an air of predictability and all the songs follow a very similar structure which makes it hard for the listener to find anything to really grab their attention.  There’s also a lack of guitar solo’s on the album.  This may be a deliberate thing, and I’m not saying every song should take a leaf out of Slash’s book, but some of these tracks are crying out for a solo! In fact, the overall guitar sound could do with being louder in the mix just to really beef the songs up.  I find some tracks are relying on Jen’s vocals almost too much.  The guitars are well played on here, so why not show it off?

I’ll stop laying into this CD now. There are some genuinely good songs on here which could certainly reach out to a lot of people. On top of that, vocalist Jen has a great voice. It’s not over the top, and it’s certainly not whiney or weak – it’s just right.  I just think The Karma Heart could and should be beating much stronger…

Kev says….

Find out more about The Karma Heart HERE.