New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The essence of rock'n'roll has always been a utopian one, an idea that music can be transcendent and take the listener out of their everyday lives to somewhere beautiful. On their forthcoming sophomore album, 'Promised Land', London-based rockers The Karma Effect aim to do just that.
Emerging from the UK's vibrant hard rock scene during the pandemic, The Karma Effect meld the hip-shaking blues rock stylings of contemporaries like The Temperance Movement and Greta Van Fleet, with the keyboard sheen and melodic songwriting of classic stadium rock bands like Foreigner.
The first single from the album, 'Livin' It Up' is the perfect introduction to the band's anthemic sound. A huge southern rock riff is complemented by melodic organ lines, a shout-a-long chorus, and frontman Henry Gottelier's otherworldly voice to create a modern rock anthem.
"The song refers to people in power taking advantage of the everyday person, and feeding off of that," says Gottelier. "Lyrics such as 'they'll be breaking your back, fill their pockets from the stack of every little bit of joy I'm owed.' The song is about not letting 'the man' get you down, and having a good time regardless. During the writing process for this album, we were massively inspired by the album 'Pump' by Aerosmith, and loved the a cappella vocal that you hear at the end of 'Love In An Elevator', so we wanted to add that in to our album somewhere - the start of 'Livin' It Up' just felt right."
The track comes with a high energy video which encapsulates the good time vibes of the song. The band shot the video with Shaun Hodson of Loki Films at the majestic Kingswood Manor down in Surrey.
'Promised Land' offers 10 tracks of raw, hook-laden rock'n'roll positively gleaming with 80s shimmer. Recorded at MRC Studios and The Hive Studios with Michael Charman, the album was built on escapism from start to finish. "When we were creating the album, it felt like we had found our own bubble of utopia - nothing in the outside world mattered in those moments. That's exactly what we want to offer anyone who takes the time to listen to the album," the band elaborate.
Self-releasing their debut album in 2022, the band actually released that record before they'd had a chance to properly play live (due to Covid restrictions). However, they've been making up for lost time, playing 11 festivals in 2023 alone, including Planet Rock Radio's Winter's End and Steelhouse Festival, as well as enjoying sold-out headline shows across the UK and support slots with UK Top 10 artists like Massive Wagons and Scarlet Rebels, all the while refining a colossal live sound. The result being that the band captured this lightning in a bottle for the set of highly impressive songs on 'Promised Land'.
Recently signed to legendary independent label Earache Records, the band look set to take the next steps to becoming one of the most exciting names in British Rock. They are currently out on a UK-wide tour with These Wicked Rivers, plus a show with labelmates The Bites in Tunbridge Wells, and with more new music to come, 2024 looks set to be a huge year for The Karma Effect.
'Promised Land' is available to pre-order now at earache.com/thekarmaeffect on limited edition vinyl, signed CD and more.
UK Tour Dates with These Wicked Rivers:
1st Dec - The Loft - Southampton
6th Dec - UEA Waterfront Studio - Norwich
7th Dec - Asylum - Birmingham
8th Dec - Corporation - Sheffield
9th Dec - Audio - Glasgow
12th Dec - The Forum - Tunbridge Wells*
13th Dec - O2 Academy2 - Islington, London
14th Dec - The Live Rooms - Chester
15th Dec - Anarchy Brew Co - Newcastle
16th Dec - The Hairy Dog - Derby
17th Dec - Thekla - Bristol
*with The Bites.
