With the release of 2015’s Success, Canadian band KEN Mode began a transformation from a metal influenced post hardcore band into a pure noise rock band. Both Success and 2018’s Loved seemed like slow transitions from the ping pong energy of post hardcore into the prowling menace of 1990s noise rock records. Last year’s Null seemed to indicate the end of that transformation. The band expanded to include multi-instrumentalist Kathryn Kerr whose additions brought new weapons to the band’s arsenal. Now they weren’t just menacing. They could sound downright combative thanks to Kerr’s saxophone and synths. The album was a snarling howl inspired by the long winter that was 2020, a winter that still seems to be in the here and now. There was a renewed sense of urgency and purpose on that record. Now comes Void, the companion piece. If Null seemed like the beginning of something new, then Void fulfills that promise.
Void opens with the one two punch of “The Shrike” and “Painless,” songs that feel like invitations to start fights. Both songs contain the kind of sound and fury missing from Null. However, those songs give way to the weariness of the rest of the album. It’s as if they’re the last gasp of the fight from Null. Jesse Matthews vocals still screech out screeds against an increasingly hostile world. The music though sounds like the band has lost the will to fight. It’s a weariness that has been felt by many during the chaos and death of the last three years. At one point during “A Reluctance of Being,” Matthews gently sings “I’m never gonna be okay” a sentiment and mood that many probably feel. He then goes back into his usual bark even screaming out “WE’RE NEVER GOING TO BE OKAY!” but it feels like a last gasp of defiance. There’s only so much fighting you can do before you resign.
Still KEN Mode make defeat sound ferocious. If they and the rest of the world are going down, then it’s with a howl and not a wimper. Null showcased new member Kathryn Kerr’s ability to add no wave skronk to KEN Mode giving both the band and the album an entirely different energy. Void shows her adding different textures to the band’s sound. There’s still her saxophone wailing in the background of songs. However, here she adds more synths and keys to create atmosphere on tracks like “We’re Small Enough” or her more subdued saxophone playing on the closing track “Not Today, Old Friend.” Her additions only add to that feeling of weariness. The addition of Kerr on both albums shows a band willing to expand its sound to find new ways to express themselves. The album ends quietly but not without making one last spit of venom.
The last three years have been miserable for everyone. There’s only so much fighting you can do with people not willing to listen to reason or logic. At some point, you have to resign. Void exists to document that weariness and sense of defeat. However, Void also exists to remind us all that we might go down, but we can go down screaming.
— D. Morris
Void will be available September 22 on Artoffact Records. For more information on KEN Mode, visit their official website, Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram.
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