The Human Edition – Karma Connected Casualties

The Human Edition
Karma Connected Casualties
Label: Spanra ApS
Out: May 10^th, 2024
Playing time: 46:47

The Human Edition hail from Aarhus (Denmark). Unfortunately, there’s not much information about the band. What you can find is the release of the debut album “T.H.E.” in 2020. Based on the posts on Facebook, I assume that the band was founded sometime in 2018 or 2019. Names such as Led Zeppelin, Queens of The Stone Age and David Bowie are cited as role models. “Karma Connected Casualties” followed in May of this year.

“Kingdom Of Yawn” starts with drumming and heavy riffs. In contrast, singer Thomas Krämer doesn’t have it easy. Loose and fluffy Hard Rock. The drums also take centre stage on “Leave Us Alone”. Not much changes in terms of melody and arrangement either. Fortunately, this changes somewhat on “Human Nature”. Although the vocals here also sound as if they’ve been heard several times before. Ride The Devils Tail (Paranoia)” is of a different kind. The singer also modulates his voice a little here. But again, and again you can hear the hard distorted guitars. However, a few short hooklines are added here. The drums can be heard again at the beginning of “Hang Me to Dry”. The song sounds like a calm version of the previous one, with a few small variations. “Inner Vision” picks up a little more speed at the beginning. But then it quickly switches back to the mid-tempo range. Thanks to the increased use of guitar melodies, there is a bit of variety. “Ivory Tower” is characterised by riffs with lower-pitched guitars. The riffs are very rhythmic, and the chorus sounds polyphonic. There is also a little guitar solo and some synthesiser sounds (who?). For me, this is one of the highlights of the album. Hectic guitars introduce “Blind Mans Buff”. The vocals seem slightly technically alienated. There are also chorus passages here again. On the other hand, “The Wrong Universe” is very melodic. But after a hard introduction, it is also calm again. With a catchy chorus. “Let Go” starts with Industrial influences, but only briefly. Hard riffs can soon be heard again. The title track “Karma Connected Casualties” brings the album to a calm close with a great guitar solo. Another highlight.

At first, I thought that the songs on “Karma Connected Casualties” all followed the same pattern. But that changes later, there is a bit of melodic variety. Singer Thomas Krämer can also break out of his vocal standard on some songs. In their sound, The Human Edition actually spread the basic musical mood of the bands and musicians mentioned above. But without copying them. They create their own sound worlds. Nevertheless, I would still like to see more variety.

The Human Edition – Kingdom of Yawn: https://youtu.be/D00otAvmhKI?si=_Jz0MqqpogEKrQV4

Lineup:

Thomas Krämer – Vocals
Niels Hyttel – Guitar
Jakob Ellerup – Bass
Simon Brøchner – Drums

Track list:

• Kingdom of Yawn
• Leave Us Alone
• Human Nature
• Ride the Devils Tail (Paranoia)
• Hang Me to Dry
• Inner Vision
• Ivory Tower
• Blind Mans Buff
• The Wrong Universe
• Let Go
• Karma Connected Casualties