KEN mode: acclaimed new album "NULL" released today on Artoffact Records
NULL, the eighth full-length album by KEN mode, is out today on Artoffact Records.
Stream the album and buy it, here: https://kenmode.bandcamp.com/album/null
See North American tour dates, here: https://ken-mode.com/pages/tour-dates
KEN mode guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson points to the bleakest days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a well of inspiration for the new album, proclaiming NULL to be "a direct psychological reaction to the collective experience of the last two and a half years."
Recorded and mixed by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Unsane), NULL is the first KEN mode release to feature collaborator Kathryn Kerr (saxophone, synth, piano, percussion, backing vocals) as a full-fledged member of the band; the album features a new palette of No Wave and industrial-tinged sounds (shades of Swans, John Zorn, Einsturzende Neubauten), infiltrating its base of noise-rock and metallic hardcore.
Reviews of NULL highlight its extreme emotional rawness and its forward-thinking musical experimentation. Among other honors, the album has earned KEN mode the cover of Decibel Magazine (October 2022 issue).
The band kicks off a short run of headlining Canadian shows tonight in its hometown of Winnipeg, followed by a headlining US tour in October and November.
"KEN mode finds catharsis in roaring at stone walls, veins engorged, knuckles constricted—you could bounce a quarter off their exhaled anger."
–Angry Metal Guy
"KEN mode has always been adventurous and experimental, but there's an obvious sense that the band found a new sense of urgency and freedom with NULL, utilizing art as an avenue toward catharsis."
–Blabbermouth
"Desolate and apocalyptic."
–BrooklynVegan
"A hardcore noise onslaught, an opus that is mental collapse and despair made sonic.”
–CVLT Nation
"Evocative, guttural, 'Howl'-esque poetry laid over frantic, Godfleshian soundscpaes."
–Decibel
"KEN mode has dealt in anxietycore for quite a while now, but it feels as if an apex has been reached here... NULL is what you get when the abyss stares back."
–Everything Is Noise
"The band hone in on precision, elliptical rhythms and smatterings of post-rock/90s clues... all the while with No Wave markings of dissonance and disarray doing battle."
–Gimme Metal
"Hardcore/noise flagbearers KEN mode return with fury on NULL, a thirty-five-minute exercise in catharsis."
–Blabbermouth
"Desolate and apocalyptic."
–BrooklynVegan
"A hardcore noise onslaught, an opus that is mental collapse and despair made sonic.”
–CVLT Nation
"Evocative, guttural, 'Howl'-esque poetry laid over frantic, Godfleshian soundscpaes."
–Decibel
"KEN mode has dealt in anxietycore for quite a while now, but it feels as if an apex has been reached here... NULL is what you get when the abyss stares back."
–Everything Is Noise
"The band hone in on precision, elliptical rhythms and smatterings of post-rock/90s clues... all the while with No Wave markings of dissonance and disarray doing battle."
–Gimme Metal
"Hardcore/noise flagbearers KEN mode return with fury on NULL, a thirty-five-minute exercise in catharsis."
–Heavy Music HQ
"This is miserable music for miserable people."
–Last Rites
"KEN Mode have returned with a new member in the mighty multi-instrumentalist in Kathryn Kerr. Noise and rage are still front and center, but Kerr is shaking things up with saxophone flurries, synth sections, and more."
–Metal Injection
"Music that sounds like the feeling you get when one of the characters in your nightmare turns to you and says, 'when you wake up from this, I’m coming with you.'"
–MetalSucks
"NULL adds some new wrinkles to their dense sound... Hard-edged, industrial sounds that are definitely influenced by early Swans and Einsturzende Neubauten."
–New Noise
"Venomous, abrasive and chaotic, the touchstones here are the Jesus Lizard, the Melvins and, of course, anything Rollins. Throw in John Zorn's Naked City, too — due to the presence of Kathryn Kerr, whose squawking saxophone consummates her new full-time KEN mode membership."
–Revolver
"The band’s sound mashes together decades’ worth of sterling underground grime — from Scratch Acid and Big Black to Unsane and Today Is the Today — into a bilious noise-rock confection, all rumbling bass, spat-out vocals and rusty-wire guitar."
–SPIN
–Revolver
"The band’s sound mashes together decades’ worth of sterling underground grime — from Scratch Acid and Big Black to Unsane and Today Is the Today — into a bilious noise-rock confection, all rumbling bass, spat-out vocals and rusty-wire guitar."
–SPIN
"NULL is KEN mode at their peak as composers... What blows me away is that it somehow retains that young-band spark."
–Stereogum
"Insane noise-rock. Super heavy. Savage as hell."
–The Needle Drop
–Stereogum
"Insane noise-rock. Super heavy. Savage as hell."
–The Needle Drop
"The math-y technicality of this band is truly incredible, their new record NULL providing a delightfully maddening blend of sonically crushing tracks."
–The Pit
"NULL maintains a balance between moments of blistering abrasion and sonic nihilism, frequently finding a groove and a good hook in spite of the malaise and loathing that oozes from its pores."
–Treble
Photo by Brenna Faris
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