KEN Mode "Mongrel" CD
[Escape Artist]
So, it stands for "Kill Everyone Now". I always wondered what the hell that was all about... you know, capitalizing "KEN" and whatnot. Now it all makes sense. But anyway, these Canadians play some viciously abrasive material not so unlike many of their labelmates, though I must confess that I enjoy their songwriting tactics a bit more and find that they fluidly combine noisy and abrasive textures with excellent rhythms driven by aptly flashy drumming and sweet basslines. The distorted vocal screams mesh perfectly with their music, and the guitars, when a bit more structured and less over the top, actually hit on some fucking stellar chord progressions that manage to work in subtle technicality, melody, and off kilter timings quite well (just check out "Bite the Wax Tadpole"). Most of their songs are pretty short, but packed to capacity with changes so they feel a bit bulkier, and there's a lot going on. They never stay in one place for too long. In addition to all of this they also display a good mix of tempo changes, the material never feels crazy or chaotic just for the sake of it, and there's a lot of creativity in the arrangements. "Likeliness is Against You" is the big winner, starting out slower and calmer than anything else on the disc with some blatant melody and a lot more emotional force to the music, moving on to some more tangible metal riffing and continuing with the powerful moderate tempos. Superb, superb work. I don't have any complaints about the production either, or at least nothing specific is coming to mind. The drums have a good amount of density going on and are very clear, which nicely accents the playing. The bass is there, the guitars are thick, the vocals are full and don't jump out in front of the music, etc. I don't know... it sounds good to me. It's not messy, and nothing seems like it's getting lost, as busy as the songwriting is. So that's good. I love the artwork on this thing. The colors are great, the busy overlapping of textures is great, the fonts inside the booklet are tight, and the text on the front cover is pretty creative. Good stuff. For some reason this one really catches my eye. I dig the lyrics too. They're a bit cryptic, but they flow well and present some curious ideas. "It's a constant humanity overhaul. Clear cut, and cut to fit. Wild cries of purity deafened and drowned out by the bellows of domestication: Control. Steady flowing lights pouring through the night sky, running down the drifters of this 'empty darkness'. Urbanization and industrial manipulation, bleeding the sphere of its life creating pride, bleeding it of life..." This is good stuff. If you're into the bulk of the Escape Artist roster I see no reason why this would disappoint. Check it out. (7/10)
Running time - 32:24, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Words Not to Say to the Queen, Bite the Wax Tadpole, Likeliness is Against You]
Escape Artist Records - http://www.escapeartistrecords.com

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