I’m going to start this in a big way. Who in the hell needs a Led Zeppelin reunion when we have a band with the sound of Strange Karma. These guys are the second coming of the music that started it all. Not to take away from Page and the boys, but Strange Karma appears to have tapped into the life blood that was Zeppelin, and used it to create a masterpiece of 70’s metal, but modernized. Sure these one off reunion shows are great for you purists, but to have original material with all the elements of Zeppelin kicking around the Aussie outback makes you think that Zep would want the torch passed and their fans to jump on this new airship. Yes folks: Strange Karma is that good!
The band is made up of Australian brothers Martin Strange (vocals), Paul Strange (guitar), and Jason McDonald (drums), Doe Prijono (bass). Strange Karma is rumored to have started when Martin jumped on a table and started to sing Zeppelin’s Rock N Roll. At that point he contacted his brother and they started on the path to stardom.
What amazes me with the talent these guys have is their path to stardom is littered with same nonsense that other bands go through. Personnel changes, record deals backing out on them, the band backing out because record companies were trying to rip them off, a brief break up after a successful tour of the UK, and throwing caution to the wind and heading to the US to make it finally happen. That US trip actually inspired the amazing song “America” found on the CD.
Volume 1 was actually recorded in 2007, but due to the many issues you read about above it never saw the light of day until www.fnarecords.net knew there was money to be made and started the push of Strange Karma that we see today.
Strange Karma’s stadium style hard rock/metal is the perfect fit for today’s current market of people looking to the past for current inspiration. All of the 10 tracks on Volume 1 contain elements from the past that the band has worked tirelessly at modernizing and making them relevant. They sound a lot like Zeppelin would if they were young and still speaking to each other. If you don’t believe me go buy the album and then we can argue about it.
Review after the warp:
The aforementioned “America” begins the album and you hear right from the start that Martin’s vocals are going to carry us all to the glory land of music. Martin’s screams lead us into a fast paced chorus that shows some modern guitar tuning and high quality sound. “Harder Than A Stone” is another strong song that has more of the modern tuning methods, but at the same time keeps the pace of a hard rock 70s song.
Other than the amazing voice of Martin, Strange Karma harkens back to Zeppelin for another reason. Their pacing is very mixed and it reminds me of the masters at the top of their craft. Keeping the listener busy and engaged with every piece of the music. “Fame” and “Down and Out” follow this formula to a tee, but are very different songs from each other.
“Time” shows us some piano work that is blended very well with the guitar. The bass is prominent in the song and the instrumentals were very uplifting to me. The thought of this track in an arena gave me goose bumps by the third listen.
The last track I want to talk about is “Indian Sun.” The only real note I made on this song was: cool. There is spoken word, gang vocals, and a psychedelic feel that shows the musicianship of every member. I chose to use this song on the end because it shows the most diversity in the bands repertoire and made me want to hear more of this mad genius style of music.
Under normal circumstances I would throw this CD out because they are a carbon copy of the sound Led Zeppelin created. The problem is they drew me in with the first scream and never let me go until the last track. Strange Karma is both the future and the past. That is a very unusual way to put things, but how else do you describe a band that wears their influence on their sleeve for the modern world to see.
Show me your horns,
Martell
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oh dear! you really are deluded!!! to even contemplate comparing this music to led zep is a discrace! they have no presence n the singer should be shot. led zep are british, this is just another dismal american attempt at re creating an original sound, and it doesnt work.
This band is Not American you goose!!, It’s an Aussie Band and they rightly should be compared to Led Zep because there hasn’t been a band that play with that kind of intensity, showman ship and understanding of music since Zep, I think this band is far from trying to be Led Zeppelin Listen to the Album and you’ll easily see that. Most bands out there these days are a F@ckin joke same old f@cking Shit. Oh and find me a band that could cover one of these guys songs, Find me a singer that can sing like Martin Strange. Led Zep were a great band no one can denie that but lets not forget Zeppelin had their influences too and if you do some research or have a bit of a clue about music you will know that they were not all that original – do some F@cking research. Strange Karma are much more original in there song writing. Strange Karma sound less like Zep then Zep sound like Jake Holmes or Willie Dixon etc Zep stole their chord progressions and the melodies and even some lyrics – Lets not forget that. Thank god there is a band like Strange Karma around today!