Vocalist Jesse Matthewson shouts in the background against a wall of sound and fat bass lines that help the band build themselves up within the noisy rock music they have been making for a very long time. Some of the sounds here take the band beyond their genre’s boundaries and into what equates to an out of body experience amongst the cosmos; one of the band’s best openers to date.
“Painless” delivers more of a hardcore atmosphere that rarely gives the listener space to breathe, even throwing in saxophone to keep this Mr. Bungle meets Converge song glued together. It is raw off the wall energy and it’s a ton of fun. Juxtapose that with the nearly 8 minute “These Wires” and the album couldn’t be any more dissimilar, slowly bringing in all the band’s strong points to make a longform statement. KEN Mode is not going to be pushed into one direction and that the unexpected is to be expected from song to song, even leaving the listener with a touch of beauty upon its exit.
“A Reluctance of Being” is the kind of noise you would expect in the early ‘90s with plenty of riffs that come in robotically and stick around for the duration of the song allowing for it to seep into your brain and completely take hold of you. “He Was a Good Man, He Was a Taxpayer” brings with it more fat bass lines and an overall dark and slow dirge.
All of the cards are out on the table for KEN MODE with VOID. It is a rewarding and complex listen and one of their best albums to date.
(released September 22, 2023 on Artoffact Records)
Heavy Music HQ Rating:
Listen To KEN Mode – “I Cannot”
