Corruption is King

Corruption is King

Sonically speaking, The Karmic Debt casts its lot with the first stone hurled. "Creeps Are Coming" is an ear-splitting, bottom-heavy sound-bomb capped with bloodcurdling, throat-shredding vocals. Corruption Is King's key delineating factor is the fundamentally pop structures that often gird their songs. Once you've weathered all the surface grit, it's easy to transpose the lyrics of Blink-182's "All the Small Things" into the verses. This is pop-punk restructured for violent civil unrest. Unfortunately, such an approach loses momentum with each subsequent carpet-bombing of the exact same territory. The one-two missed punches of "Dead in the Parking Lot" and "Call It" only weaken the shock-and-awe appeal of the Austin quartet's firepower. While "Lay Low" and "Cut Off" boast more engaging dynamics, The Karmic Debt avoids throttling beyond first gear more often than not. Overwhelming noise alone isn't enough to win the battle for hearts and minds.