ALBUM REVIEW: Loved – KEN Mode

There’s a level of respect in the extreme music world reserved for bands who tour hard and stick to the most ardent of DIY ethos. KEN MODE are one such band.

The Manitoban misfits have been on the road relentlessly since their inception nearly two decades ago, sharing stages across the globe with the great and the good from all corners of the musical spectrum, revelling in the mixed bill.

Despite a blistering schedule, they’ve produced six full length releases, including 2011’s JUNO Winning Venerable and 2015’s near complete departure from their established roots, the Steve Albini produced Success.
Whether they ‘burnt out’ or just decided “that’s it, back to Winnipeg”, 2016 saw KEN MODE shifting their focus. It wasn’t for long; 2017 saw them writing once more, the result is their seventh studio album, Loved.

This is quintessential KEN MODE, possibly the truest distillation of their mind and their mission to date. From the squealing feedback that bursts into manic energy on opener Doesn’t Feel Pain Like He Should, this is a record akin to an aural panic attack, anxiety made manifest. Fractured guitars needle and jar atop Scott Hamilton’s guttural bass buzzsaw, Jesse Matthewson’s caustic, vitriolic howl doing battle with Shane Matthewson’s clattering, staccato drum attack. Sardonic as it is sincere, the band prove they’ve mastered frustration and release with the tentative, pulsing creep of closer No Gentle Art and the album’s ever present, aching grooves. Breathless, bleak, ugly, a timely and welcome catharsis in the face of a world slowly losing sanity.

Rating: 8/10

Loved is out now via Season of Mist.

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