Kamala have obviously taken notes from such mathcore/noisecore luminaries as Dillinger Escape Plan, Candiria and possibly even Converge, but have also drawn influence from the other side of the spectrum with a heavy Mr. Bungle influence to tighten their collective musical belt. As such, a musical cacophony of sounds is what is served up on this EP, which can range from focused sludgy excursions complete with lumbering scraping vocals to pure sonic dissonance that pokes and prods the listener while adhering to close to no set structure at all as the group experiment with various sounds and tones.
The vocals included are almost always coated with either a distortion effect or were recorded with a bad microphone, but judging from the guttural death metal styled growls and provoked high pitched wails, the constant static like ambiance of the verbal portion of this CD is probably a necessary evil. Sounding like Mike Patton being burnt alive, the offbeat spoken aspect of the bands music charges through a variety of different styles from fast paced rants to Mr. Bungle tinged croons, System Of A Down like screams and Coalesce flavored growls along with almost everything in between, rarely letting the listener catch their breath. Guitars are quite moody and have a surprisingly crunchy distortion as they carve out cavernous riffs and rapid squeals along with the occasional effects pedal tossed in for support. Meanwhile, bass on the other hand is a bit more steady and runs through the motions using everything from fleet fingered plucks to ascending note patterns along with a solid, slight downtuning, which helps thicken out the bands sound. Drums are the most impressive inclusion here as the a dull snare rings out accordingly with each hard hit and lightning fast rolls constantly batter the listeners ears as they take shape in very unconventional time structures and show off a very open minded approach and a wealth of un-molded talent.
The group have the right idea and no doubt have the energy and charisma it takes to become a force in the heavy music scene and make intriguingly chaotic music and as such they do manage to shine on a few parts, such as fiery verses of "Discrete Vice" which have enough brute force to literally tear the listeners ears right off. Unfortunately though the band rarely capitalize on their intensity and choose to meander through drawn out intro's and interludes which drain the momentum that the tracks could have had with each passing second. Another strike against the group is the fact that they are somewhat sloppier than other acts who attempt similar music and while many other bands chose to use more pronounced styles such as jazz based structures and the like, Kamala instead go completely opposite creating white noise that is slow in tempo and too scattered to establish any in depth cognition. With this as the case, the group will have a long way to go, as far as their songwriting is concerned, to capture the hearts of fans who are more in tune to their competitions razor sharp genre blending ways, but as a humble beginning "ID E.P." without question gives the band a great basis to establish an identity upon.
(2.5 / 5)
