The group currently consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass, and Steve Judd on drums.

Karnivool developed from a high school band formed in 1997 in Perth, Western Australia, which played parties using a set of cover versions of Nirvana and Carcass songs, with some original compositions also included.

In 1998, lead singer Ian Kenny changed their set to entirely original songs, removed all of the early band members and officially named the band Karnivool, derived from a local anecdotal description that the original members were "a bunch of clowns".

In 2000, Brown was replaced by Jon Stockman and, shortly after, McKenzie also left and Ray Hawking joined on drums.

Goddard and Stockman also played guitar and bass respectively on the title track of the 2005 album Hold Your Colour, by Perth group Pendulum.

[6] After touring in the US, Karnivool returned to Australia in 2008 and subsequently entered the studio to write their follow-up to Themata.

During their live performances for the Aeons Tour, they played some of the new songs from the album, such as "Goliath", "Deadman", "Pearogram" (All I Know) and "New Day".

At Homebake in 2008 they debuted a fifth new song entitled "Set Fire to the Hive", which was confirmed as the first single from the album.

We've played a lot of Western countries but to go to a place like India, you know, all we thought we had in common was cricket but I was very wrong.

We didn't even realise we had a following there, then we announced the show and all these messages started coming back through social media ... Having a beer in the hotel room afterwards, we were like "What the hell?

"[17] At these shows they debuted a new song "The Refusal" and Goddard stated that the band was working in the studio on their third album.

[23] The band played 16 sold-out theatre shows around Australia, with support from Melbourne's Redcoats and Sydney instrumental group sleepmakeswaves.

[24] The band returned to India in November 2012 for some additional shows and, during the same period, announced that they were recording their third album at 301 studios in Byron Bay, Australia.

[25] The band toured Australia again in December 2012, performing shows in Wollongong and Sydney before the Pyramid Festival for New Year's Eve.

[30] A music video directed by Chris Frey was filmed in April 2013, but the name of the song was not disclosed at the time that the production information was made available.

The band also revealed the title, track list and cover art for their third album, entitled Asymmetry.

Triple J aired the radio debut of the six-minute-long "We Are" on the "Doctor" programme[32] and Kenny explained to one of the station's announcers: "Asymmetry really harks to what we try to do musically as a band.

Goddard announced that the band would undertake a national Australian tour with Dead Letter Circus and sleepmakeswaves during January 2014.

[37] Following that, the band embarked on their biggest ever headline tour of the UK and Europe in March/April 2015, with support from English act Monuments.

[38] In March 2015, the band announced the 'Themata Decade tour' celebrating 10 years since the release of their debut album, with 16 shows around Australia in April and May.

[40][41] In February 2020, they announced an April tour for the 10th anniversary of Sound Awake,[42] which was later postponed to March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, all tour dates outside of Western Australia were cancelled in February 2021, instead opting to livestream the remaining concerts.

[45] In 2022, they headlined the Monolith Festival in Australia alongside Cog and were supported by acts such as Ocean Grove, Plini, Sleepmakeswaves, Reliqa and Yomi Ship.

Influenced by Deftones and Tool,[50] Karnivool originally formed as "a nu-metal inclined" project which was "melodically-inclined but blisteringly-technical" and categorized by "head-spinning time signatures and downtuned riff wizardry", before they reinvented themselves and expanded their sound.

[52] Rolling Stone India classified Karnivool as a progressive rock band, defined by "odd-time signatures, buzzing riffs and jagged guitar lines, soaring and harmonized vocals [and] cerebral writing.