March 15, 2011 • Profound Lore Records
Today it is time to step outside my comfort zone a bit, although in just a small way. While sludge metal has for a long time been one of my favorite genres, I tend to stick to the atmospheric/"post-" side of things rather than the more traditional, punky side of things. I know I'm probably missing out on a lot of good stuff that way, but KEN Mode has come to save the day. Well, Venerable isn't going to suddenly turn me onto the sort of Jesus Lizard-esque noise rock I normally dislike, but it's a good album in its own way all the same.
Where KEN Mode really shines for me is their ability to strike an impressive balance between being really heavy and really catchy. The catchiness seemingly comes from infleunces of old noise rock bands, which is an interesting (though of course not unheard-of) thing to hear on a sludge album (for me, anyway). I have to admit: even though I'm not normally much into the non-atmospheric side of sludge, this album has definitely started to grow on me. It helps that it's often quite fast and aggressive which keeps it interesting, even if it has a bit of the messy and off-putting noise rock influence I don't really like (e.g. "A Wicked Pike"; I doubt I'll ever really be into that sort of thing).
The band itself plays decently enough as well. Technically, the album isn't anything terribly special, though there are more than a few interesting guitar riffs and bass lines ("Flight of the Echo Hawk"'s bass sounds particularly awesome). The songwriting is nothing to sneeze at either, although sometimes the catchy riffing makes way for more generic and less-memorable blasting or grinding. Such is life.
Yet, again, it's growing on me. I didn't like this album at all the first time around, and a few listens later it's starting to click. I blame myself, though, mostly for not trying very hard with this specific style in the past—so major credit to KEN Mode for opening my eyes up a bit.
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