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Atma (Vinyl)
"With all that has happened in the world in recent times, it was only natural that many bands would take to their studios in order to craft new experiences that served as liberation and solace after such troubling times, but some have taken the initiative to use such turmoil in order to deliver an experience that feels more foreboding and poignant rather than a simple source of refuge. My Sleeping Karma has long been at the top of the world of instrumental psych rock for every reason, but it was with their long-awaited sixth album after a seven-year silence that they sought to change things up a little. As the most personal and deepest album that the band has released to date, this is also the band’s most tumultuous effort thus far.
Whenever we sit here and think about all that the vast realms of psychedelic rock are capable of, particularly in the instrumental veins, serenity, peace, and trippiness are effortless just three core themes that come to mind with acts like My Sleeping Karma true bastions of those very ideals. Those factors are still very much present within the six tracks and 49 minutes that make up “Atma” as we find these German musicians immersing themselves in all of the strife, conflict, and hate that the world has found itself in the midst of in recent years, and it’s in each track of this new opus that they manage to put us in the very depths of those misfortunes to then carve the very path out of such despairs. Whether it be in the form of overcoming through love or perseverance through hope, however dim it may be, “Atma” tackles the challenges we see happening all over the world head-on without so much as a second thought or the slightest sign of wavering. This is a record that is the very definition of what it means to keep going even in the darkest times, no matter how dense it may become or how oppressive it is along every step of the way as the light of salvation seems to never get any closer. My Sleeping Karma offers us retrospective to keep us moving forward through their undeniable style of supreme atmospheres and impeccable musicianship that can rarely be likened to anything less than the absolute best of what the sound has to offer, for it’s even after a long silence that seemed like it would never end in some moments that “Atma” persevered to pull us out of the gutters to get us back on our feet, ready to charge forward yet again.
They’ve never once been a band to underestimate ever since they first came upon the world with their voiceless stories and intoxicating rhythms, but it has got to be with all that they brought forward with “Atma” that this really does feel like the most personal and fulfilled creation that My Sleeping Karma has made in their already-illustrious career. There’s a reason why these guys are as revered as they are in the sound, and it’s with every single one of these six tracks with which that very truth must be cemented even further into our brains with the salvation, lessons, and harmonies that are to be found within the effort the caliber of mastery that cannot be considered anything short of a true, undeniable masterclass of the genre." - Head-Banger Reviews