A few photos of Karnataka’s recent gig at Bilston Robin 2. The band were on superb live form despite slightly poor sound early on, combining hard rock bombast with evocative symphonic celtic-progressive epics. Hayley Griffiths’ dynamic stage presence leaves the impression that they really ought to be playing far bigger stages.
The current incarnation of the band have fully gelled now, with the most recent recruit, drummer Jimmy Pallagrosi the final piece in the jigsaw. He does give the impression that Animal from The Muppets is his role model.
The setlist naturally drew heavily from the newest album “Secrets of Angels”, with a mesmerising rendition of the lengthy title track one of the highlights. They’ve given the rest of the set a big shakeup, with three songs from “The Gathering Light” incuding the Enrico Pinna guitar showcase “Forsaken” and an excellent “Moment in Time”. They finished with their barnstorming cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”.
They’re a very different band nowadays that Karnatakas past. And with just a couple of songs remaining from the earliest incarnation of the band, maybe someone else should start a tribute act?
Not a review as such, because it’s only had a single listen so far. But the atmospherics with strings, repeated piano figures and occasional nods to Pink Floyd made a very good first impression.