Live Review: Karnivool – Academy, Manchester
15th May 2026
Support: Intervals
Words: Dan Barnes
The second of just two stops on the UK leg of their In Verses tour sees Australian progressives, Karnivool, bringing the European trek to a close at a sold-out Manchester Academy. Comparisons to Tool stretch further than the thirteen years between albums, as they use their time onstage to showcase six of In Verses’ tunes tonight.
Opening with the slow and steady build up of newbie, Ghost, drops into some heavy guitars and angular riffs; Ian Kenny dad dances between his vocal duties, red light sweeps the stage while the guitar partnership of Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking weave subtle tapestries of sound. Tool is a band heavily name-checked, but I can also hear the ethos of Katatonia living within Karnivool’s delivery.
Sound Awake’s Simple Boy has a complexity in its DNA – the steady, almost metronomic progression, along with the stylistic shifts, make for a compelling listen. Shoulder-sitting seems to be the order of the day, with capacity crowd vying for the best view of the simple but effective stage set-up.
There’s a powerful play between the gentle elements and the more aggressive ones in Aozora, where those Tool references are writ-large in the choruses; Goliath comes with a middle-eastern flavour and a mammoth bass sound and, what it lacks in tempo, it more than makes up for in emotional intensity and complex rhythmic structures. The first crowd-surfer of the evening goes over toward the climax, coaxed by the meaty riffs revealed at the mid-point.
Interaction between band and crowd is minimal tonight, with Ian taking a moment during his intro to Drone to thank support band, Intervals, for their constant presence on these European dates. The slithering, oozing opening bars comes with some swing and, although taken from In Verses, appears to have been an instant hit with the fans. Asymmetry’s We Are is sung back to the stage as clean guitar and a scratchy riff elevates the evening from concert to a spiritual event.
The near-ten-minute epic that is Deadman never feels that it outstays its welcome, as Lee seems to be channelling his inner Maynard, the fluctuation of the track adding an intensity to the tune that makes it one of this evening’s highlights. The audience singalong and number of bobbing heads attest to the power of this one.
All it Takes gets all meaty and danceable; Animation combines clean guitars with a heavy low end; debut album, Themata’s title-track drops and shows the band have been faithful to their original intentions from the beginning and is another that seems to have an eastern feel embedded. The other track from the debut, Roquefort, arrives with a hefty stomp and a mid-noughties vibe, and is a nice gift to the older fans supporting the band from the get-go. The walking basslines of Sound Awake’s New Day brings the set to a end with an emotional gut-punch.
Opal and the debut performance of never-before-played-anywhere Slava write the final paragraph for the evening and of Karnivool’s European adventure before heading home for a series of [southern hemisphere] winter shows.
This evening’s support came from Canadian instrumental guitar troupe, Intervals, who return to Manchester after their show at last year’s Radar Festival. Aaron Marshall leads his Canuck trope through a masterclass of musical virtuosity, and not simply from a guitar point of view; drummer Nathan Bulla commits a series of assaults on his kit, in full sight of a couple of thousand eyewitnesses, as bassist Jacob Umansky stands accomplice.
The 2024 album, Memory Palace is almost two years’ old to the day of this performance and makes up the bulk of the set. Neurogenesis proves Intervals can stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Animals as Leaders in their sheer technical prowess. It feels like an updated version of an Eighties theme, modern and urban, while simultaneously evoking memories of a period past. Nootropic and Galaxy Brain further add credence to the Eighties feel by using a moment of 8-bit computer sound.
They go back to 2017’s The Way Forward record with Leave No Stone, which suggests a youthful rawness to their earlier work; Mata Hari comes with a genuine thanks for the UK always showing up to support instrumental guitar music, before delivering a down and dirty groove and grind; Epiphany takes us back to the In Time EP of 2012 and has Aaron considering whether this show is the best of the tour. The duo of new tunes, Mnemonic and Chronophobia close out the set and the tour for Intervals who seem to have been having a blast from day one.
Sometimes, technical or progressive music tickles the cerebellum rather than the gut, and that was the case at times tonight; but, for the most part, Karnivool and Intervals delivered a full-on rock show – perhaps not a visual feast, but definitely one for the ears.
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