There are times when you just know. When you know that something is right, just and beautiful. When it’s ripe, glowing and succulent. When it glows, pulsates, and engorges. This may sound like the prelude to either an overly dramatic restaurant review or, the sordid details of a long since forgotten but longed for episodic sexual coupling, but no, it’s not either of those things. It is music and more explicitly, the music of KEN mode that has had me all of quiver over the last few years and I have mostly been marinading in and manhandling the juices of their previous seven albums, into as many orifices as I can. Hailing from Winnipeg, Canada, originally KEN mode (KEN is the phrase borrowed from Black Flag which mandates that a live performance should be approached with the maxim ‘Kill Everything Now’), I have gorged myself silly on their grinding, slippery, grimy, and feral musical menu for a few years, I can tell you now, that KEN mode do not fuck about. This, their new album, as well as their filthy back catalogue, comprise of greasy vignettes of grief, anger, bitterness, and hate, it’s a heady brew, that should be approached with caution for it is not for the faint of heart. Originally the brainchild of brothers Jesse (vocals, guitars, piano) and Shane Matthewson (drums) the band has swollen over time to include a rotating chorus line of bass players and has recently introduced added depth, colour and spice courtesy of saxophone, more piano and backing vocals from Kathryn Kerr.
That might sound like the band have gone soft in their dotage, and gone full Guns ‘n’ Roses ‘November Rain’, but they haven’t, and whilst their new songs contained within new album NULL, the band have added dimensions of subtlety and song writing nuance, although their raison d’etre is still nihilistic, bare bones, shrieking hard discordant metallic hardcore with a swing, that makes you want to tap your feet, mosh and sit at a window sill, peering into middle distance to contemplate the fragility of life, all at the same time.
NULL, is the sound of a band fully comfortable within their chosen oeuvre, and this album simply extrapolates on themes visited on previous releases, going deeper, into the dark, into places where light cannot go and where bad things happen to good people. From a musical proximity perspective, it’s a tough one to pin down, which I think is one of the reasons this bands resonates so much with me. There are times where the sparse production and jangly, spidery riffs and primal roars recall bands such as Fugazi, Drives Like Jehu and Girls Against Boys in that dirty, DIY feel to their music, with huge gaps that hum with bass and discordant strings and a wailing, mournful guitar that manifest themselves within songs, giving them time to breath and tell their story. It is ominous yet strangely uplifting. Previous releases and interviews with the band have also spoken of bands such as Botch in terms of a musical comparison and you can feel Tacoma’s finest breath on the back of this album’s neck, especially on album closer Lost Grip whose spoken word interludes and gang choruses do recall Botch, and when it comes to comparisons you could be doing far worse than being compared and contrasted with such scene luminaries.
But let’s not lose sight of the prize here. It’s all very well finding commonality to orientate you dear reader, but at the end of the day KEN mode are KEN mode, uncompromising, brutal, nihilistic and steadfastly brilliant. This album is certainly more considered than previous efforts and although not softening their sound, this all sounds slightly more accessible in a good way and if there is truth to the rumour that a companion album to NULL has already been written and produced, then it’s going to be very interesting to see where the band take things from here. But make no mistake, this is a soundtrack to bad thoughts, deeds and shitty weather. It’s cold, exacting, heavy as balls, groove laden, bleak and perfectly executed, KEN mode has exceeded all of my expectations and have delivered one of the best albums of 2022.
(9/10 Nick Griffiths)
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