[rayword45]

Day 1051: Void by KEN Mode

If anything is surprising to me, it's that this ISN'T my favorite sludge metal-noise rock hybrid album of the year, as that would still have to go to the facestomping awesomeness of Congratulations by EYES.

Whereas Congratulations was a much more straightforward attack and sort of down-to-basics approach to this kind of "atonal shreds and over-the-top screams" style of music, this album is more clearly the product of a band that's been around for long enough and has released enough music to perhaps not want to make something so forthright. The majority of the album is still pretty much what I've come to expect from this band, mind you, but you also have the long, droning post-metal experiments with These Wires and A Reluctance of Being, and the almost jazz-y detour of We're Small Enough. While my favorites are definitely the more traditional screams-and-riffs cuts, these add a much-welcome sense of variety to the mix.

Perhaps contradictorily, what I find myself a little bit disappointed with here compared to the last two albums from this band is how safe a lot of this feels to me. Null frequently felt like it was on the brink of collapsing onto itself with how frenzied and crazy the songs felt, and Loved felt much more aggressive to my ears despite the songwriting maybe being a little more approachable. This is still a very solid, enjoyable album, but it's missing that spark. Perhaps it's because this is actually basically the second half of Null as the two were purportedly written and recorded together during the pandemic, as that would potentially explain the more familiar feeling this has.

Don't mind how negative this review is, I still enjoyed this a lot and would recommend this album, but I'd also recommend the previous two KEN Mode albums first. Solid, not a misstep or anything, just an unfortunate victim of my high expectations.

Best Track: He Was a Good Man, He Was a Taxpayer
Rating: 7.5/10