Band:	Karmanjakah
Album:	Ancient Skills
Style:	Djent, Progressive metal
Release date:	May 2023

01. Breathing
02. Flying
03. Writing
04. Listening

A Book About Itself was one of the shiniest hidden gems of the djent scene in recent years. Two years later, Karmanjakah return with a shorter yet comparably charming EP in the form of Ancient Skills.

Reviewing this EP is partially an opportunity for me to shine a light on A Book About Itself, Karmanjakah’s debut record, and one I sadly discovered too long after its release to give it a front page review. What charmed me so much about it was that, while still delivering weighty djent riffs, it opted against the metalcore-heavy trend in the scene in favour of a more melodic and wistful sound, predominantly clean vocals adding some subtly sad emotion to compositions that were crafted with bright-sounding instrumentals. There was a hint of Corelia to the record, particularly in the clean vocal tone, but truthfully it didn’t really sound all that much like any one act. Most of what could be said about A Book About Itself applies to Ancient Skills as well, albeit with the Swedes making one notable change: dropping the infrequent harsh vocals on the debut altogether and exclusively focusing on clean singing.

Like on the debut, a lot of the guitar leads and keyboards feel like they would be most naturally found on a more straightforward melodic prog-metal album, but the riffing draws on the tonality and polyrhythmicity of djent, and it’s a captivating combination. Karmanjakah are a fairly languid group; there is little here in the way of speed or intensity. Remove the djent riffs with something less dense and this EP would probably abandon the realm of metal altogether, but it is the combination of this depth with the serenity of the accompanying compositions that makes the band so compelling. “Breathing” rolls along with a gleeful slack groove, and when it pulls back for a purely clean passage with a tender guitar lead, the subsequent return of the riffs later on highlights just what they offer. In some ways, Karmanjakah give off a vibe to me that is akin to a djenty Subsignal; like their Touchstones record, there’s a real peacefulness and overarching pleasant positivity, even with a capacity for such voluminous riffing.

Across the 20 minutes of Ancient Skills, Karmanjakah deftly distinguish each track. “Flying” stands out immediately with its opening piano motif, one that feels like it could have been found on a record from a mellow jazz group such as GoGo Penguin, which are nicely combined with accompanying synth lines. “Writing” is the shortest song, and the one that goes hardest with some real crunching moments, but the joyful melody of the guitar solos prevent any real darkness permeating the track. In contrast, closing track “Listening” is probably the most tender here, with some prolonged periods of serene ambience, but balances that with a more melancholic tone, which is sustained right through to the outro, during which djent syncopation interjects an otherwise pensively nostalgic ambient backdrop.

From the two releases I’ve now heard thus far from Karmanjakah, I can tell that they’re a band I will continue to enjoy for a long while; there’s something about their sound that is so easy and accessible, yet also rewarding, and it’s a sound that is clearly distinctive as their own. I hope there’s going to be a full album of music on the horizon, but Ancient Skills will serve as a very pleasant stop-gap in the meantime.