By: Charlie Butler
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 31/08/2018
Label: Season of Mist |
New
Damage Records
Few records will match the sheer rage and intensity of “Loved” this
year. Almost 20 years into their existence, KEN mode have released their finest
work that sets the bar for riff-heavy noise rock in 2018.
“Loved” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1.
Doesn't Feel Pain Like He Should
2.
The Illusion Of Dignity
3.
Feathers & Lips
4.
Learning To Be Too Cold
5.
Not Soulmates
6.
Very Small Men
7.
This Is A Love Test
8.
Fractures In Adults
9.
No Gentle Art
The Review:
Winnipeg
trio KEN mode make a welcome return with new LP “Loved”. It is by far the nastiest entry
in their impressive body of work and all the better for it.
The
album screams into life with “Doesn’t
Feel Pain Like He Should”, a feral burst of sludged up noise rock that
sounds like Unsane plugged into the mains. KEN mode have always dealt in a potent blend of churning
low-end rumble, razor wire guitar lines and frantic vocals but they have never
sounded as livid and visceral as they do on “Loved”. “The Illusion Of Dignity” continues the carnage, this time raising
the intensity levels with furious squalls of saxophone at the track’s climax.
Somehow the band manage to maintain this frightening level of ferocity through
“Not Soulmates” and “Very Small Men” while introducing some
touches of Botch style math rock into the fray.
“This Is A Love Test” provides some
welcome respite with passages of quiet restrained menace bolstered by more
saxophone, this time providing unsettling melody. These periods of calm only
serve to emphasise the abrasive attack when the band kick back into high gear.
After
eight tracks of seething rage, KEN mode somehow manage
to save their hardest hitting track for last. “No Gentle Art” is a masterclass in slow-burn build and release dynamics,
rising from a barely audible bass pulse and muttered threats into an utterly
devastating one chord onslaught riddled with screams, feedback and wild
saxophone noise. The music is the perfect match for Jesse Matthewson’s repeated
howls of “STOP GIVING ME HOPE”, the sound of all dreams being ground into dust.
Few
records will match the sheer rage and intensity of “Loved” this year. Almost 20 years into their existence, KEN mode have released their finest work that sets the bar
for riff-heavy noise rock in 2018.
