Karcius has made quite a name for itself as a progressive metal band. They were headline performers at Canada's most pretentious gathering, Progstorm Montréal, recorded a Blu-ray of their Live in France concert, and toured the two relevant continents (USA, EU). For a group blending jazz, classical, ambient, and African genres, that's one hell of a resume. Black Soul Sickness is Karcius's seventh full-length release, marking a huge, lucky-numbered milestone for the Canadian crew.

It's rare that I, as a listener, get attached to an album from the opening song. Karcius arranged their opus at the forefront of Black Soul Sickness, that being the thirteen-minute epic Wallow. The track is evolutionary: throughout its runtime, you'll hear the filmic bombast of progressive rock, the technicality and grit through both vocals and instruments of progressive metal, the lyrical introspectivity of art rock, and all of this is constantly maneuvering through jam segments and acoustic passages. It's a bold move on the band's end to assign Wallow as the starting piece, as usually if a band puts their best work first, the rest of their material pales in comparison. For Karcius, the stereotype is set aside, because the six following tracks hold their ground.

Sylvain is an interesting vocalist. His rasp bridges clean and harsh vocals, almost grunge-y. He sets the edge for the heavier songs on the album (see the symphonic Darkest Heir, which, despite its heaviness, includes two synth solos), but he also glides through calmer songs like Out Of Nothing or Slow Down Son, the latter here a ballad with lovely tribalistic percussion. He may not have the most impressive range, but he gets whatever needs to get done, done well. Karcius mentioned before their influences from outside genres. I'm here to say that, sadly, I'm not getting too many African vibes from the record, besides maybe some exotic percussion. There are some ambient sections, sure, but the most prevalent styles are specks of classical guitar wizardries and jazz fusion through the drums. Thomas handles the drums and most percussion, and his virtuosity occasionally leads the band through longer pieces. Said longer pieces can't mount Wallow's throne, but weak links there are none.

Black Soul Sickness isn't the harshest prog metal album. It's emotional as it is musically complicated, but satisfying, albeit short, bursts of gutturals and guitars occur. The point is, Karcius crafts progressive metal carefully, letting feelings take the wheel. To compare, think of a slightly heavier Big Big Train. I haven't listened to purebred prog rock in a while, but I drew a couple of connections between the two. I might have to edit my CD collection and match the number of Big Big Train albums I have with Karcius's. Then multiply it by two. Three, even.