KARMA // Inner Demons

Expressing some of the darkest and angriest emotions is the forte of that intense hybrid of doom metal and deathcore, becoming known as ‘doomcore’. Karma, an emerging band from Sydney, has set out to do just that.

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The voice behind their debut self-titled EP Karma, Daniel ‘Denver’ Soria, lays out for us the passion behind Karma’s innovative sound.

Karma’s sound is an intense mix of styles and moods, from frenetic rage to unnervingly dark, sparse terrain, what are some of the influences behind this?

“So I guess first and foremost,” Denver reflects, “the heavy influences come from bands like The Acacia Strain, Black Tongue, things like that, I personally really enjoy listening to those bands and love the vibe they put out in a lot in their music, I relate to it a lot so I guess that’s why enjoy it so much, but there’s also a lot of other stuff in there as well. A lot of the groove influences come from bands like Deftones, even things like Glasscloud, that’s another band that’s a big influence of mine. But there’s other artists like I guess trap artists, or rappers, like Ghostemane and $uicideboy$ I guess that kind of influences the dark mentality, and some of the creepy vibe that is introduced in some of the songs.”

If there’s a negative going on, and it seems like there’s no way to find a positive through it, make it into a song and see if you can make something.
[ Daniel ‘Denver’ Soria ]

Drawing upon these influences makes for a powerful way to express oneself, which as Denver recounts is a driving force behind his writing process. “Probably the toughest song we wrote was No Donnie These Men Aren’t Nihilists They’re Cancer,” he explains, “that whole song name and song lyrics and everything to do with that song, I feel like that was probably the biggest vent for me, as that song was written about, um, just someone who had done me wrong in my life, who has done a lot of people wrong in their life, and I feel like I needed to get a lot of stuff off my chest … A lot of that came out in the lyrics on this record. When you don’t have anyone to talk to, or anyone you can get it off your chest with, it does build up a lot, and when you have that avenue, with music for example, it’s a really good way for me to get it out of my head, write it down on paper, and see if there’s anything you can bring a positive from it. I think that’s what music has always been about for me. If there’s a negative going on, and it seems like there’s no way to find a positive through it, make it into a song and see if you can make something … that seems depressing, you can make something that you enjoy playing, or performing or whatever it might be.”

There sure is a lot of emotion embedded in Karma’s five tracks. Songs like Send ‘Em To The Ranch are also lyrically quite introspective, Denver informs us, and drawn from his own trials in life; “I feel like this song …is like when you’re looking in a mirror and you see all your inner demons I guess surrounding you and encouraging you to do the things that make life harder for you, making things worse for you, but in that you seem to come across a feeling of comfort. It’s enough to keep you around but you know that it’s bad and that it’s wrong for you. And that’s why a lot of the lyrics in the song … it’s like a fight between yourself, a struggle, especially the lyric saying you deserve it, this was a memory I had, I guess, of my mum telling me that me smoking is going make me sick, not do anything good for me essentially, I guess in my head I felt like I was having a shit time, and in the back of my mind as much I didn’t want to think that, I kept on hearing my mum saying you deserve it, you deserve it, you’re putting yourself through your own hell, and it was like me having that inner battle within myself because I wanted to succumb to my demons and let them put me at ease, but have those recurring thoughts of my mum, and my dad, telling me … this is your fault … this is the reason you’re not progressing or getting any further, because you keep putting yourself in this hole. So, it’s an inner struggle, this song.”

Karma is an intense EP and sure to resonate with many people. What does Denver hope Karma’s listeners will take from this new project? “I think what I want to tell people most of all,” Denver states, “is if you think you’re alone, you’re not. That’s the one thing I want to make sure everyone who listens to my music feels, is that if you think you’re going through something hard or going through something that you’re not going to get through, think again, because we all get through the dark times, we just have to pull through, have to make sure we don’t give up.”

Purchase Karma here.