Winnipeg’s KEN mode mean serious business and that business is mean. This band needs little introduction, but to the uninitiated I will oblige. The end of last year played to the paranoia of a hot air apocalypse. Had this portentous event happened, KEN mode would have been the symphony. This particular brand of noisy hardcore sighs with sludgy malevolence and agonizes with a post-hardcore fervor. “Entrench” is KEN mode experimenting with the darkest of sounds, a record made for dark times.
“Entrench,” their first for Season of Mist, is an attention strangler. Each song retains a unique identity, with a dash of that kill-everyone-now flavor maintaining the overarching theme. The record’s foundation is its balance of terrible beauty and awe-inducing violence. As simple an emotional shift as running your hands from sobbing eyes to ripping out your hair, KEN mode’s latest effort is a mental breakdown made elemental. The myriad influences flow into a cohesive whole that at moments struggles within its boundaries, making for a exhausting but refreshing listen. Of the record’s eleven tracks there are few one can call “favorite.” Mind you that is a good thing. While “Entrench” has all the power to bugger itself with chaos, KEN mode reigns the beast in and have their way with it. Below have a listen to “The Terror Pulse” and behold self-destruction at its finest.
Like a delicate, impending thunder clap, “Counter Culture Complex” offers a sampling of “Entrench’s” more enticing fruits, a sonic bloom of thorn and petal. “No; I”m in Control” struggles for its namesake, a hyper-aggressive plea capable of carving a Glasgow from ear to ear. A concussive blast of post-hardcore, this track reaches an intensity rarely heard or executed convincingly. While “Entrench” is largely inhospitable, if offers stark countermeasures to its own savagery. One such as sixth entry “Romeo Must Never Know,” a mid-album expanse gorged on sentiment and longing, a whisper in a greater abyss. The final track, “Monomyth,” features an apocalyptic orchestration that will bathe the listener in phantasmal breathes of ice. Nothing short of stunning.
“Entrench” will be available March 19 and can be preordered from Season of Mist. Four tracks off the record can be heard at KEN mode’s Bandcamp. Their prior release can also be listened to and purchased. Be sure to catch KEN mode on their North American tour from March 1 to April 15. Dates can be found here.
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