ALBUM REVIEW: KEN mode, "Loved"

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.

“Loved” is available to preorder/buy here & here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

FOR THOSE ABOOT TO ROCK: Riffs of Canada with Occvlt Hand (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

By: Mark Tremblay

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/09/2017

Label: Possessed Records

“Not Everyone Deserves a Happy Ending” is full of riffs; riffs that pummel, slow-to-a-crawl, and riffs that grind everything to dust. Occvlt Hand have really created an exercise in the variety of heavy riffs one can employ on a record without ever repeating themselves, or creating a similar experience.  

“Not Everyone Deserves A Happy Ending” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Intro

2). Smash My Bones, Inhale The Dust

3). Michael

4). Total fucking Absence of Light

5). He Who Walks Behind The Rows

6). Interlude

7). Long Live The New Flesh

8). Not Everyone Deserves A Happy Ending

The Review:

Occvlt Hand have unleashed their slab of Crowbar/Entombed worship sludge metal. This album has one goal, to be a crushingly heavy experience for the listener.  Although it is the bands first full length record, the pacing and sonic flow of the album is spot on. This is not merely a collection of heavy tracks, but a logical flow of ideas. Playing this record in a different order would almost cheapen the experience. Very few young bands appreciate the experience of an album, so it is impressive the way Occvlt Hand is able to write with this in mind.

“Not Everyone Deserves a Happy Ending” is full of riffs; riffs that pummel, slow-to-a-crawl, and riffs that grind everything to dust. Occvlt Hand have really created an exercise in the variety of heavy riffs one can employ on a record without ever repeating themselves, or creating a similar experience.  What is perhaps the most exciting thing about the record is to see where Occvlt Hand goes from here. It seems that the possibilities for this band going forward are endless.

“Not Everyone Deserves  A Happy Ending” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook