Set to: Kill Everyone Now...

Anyone who says that noise rock is gone and irrelevant these days is wrong. However, at times I often believe it’s taking place more so in other countries, but still…it’s alive and kicking. A perfect example is the new album Reprisal from Winnipeg’s KEN Mode. The trio is definitely pumping fuel into a genre that to some may have been cast aside many years ago.

Reprisal is the second album from KEN Mode, which has just recently been put out on Escape Artist. I remember hearing this band back in 2000 when they had only recorded a few demos to which would later end up on their debut Mongrel. Despite being demos, it was still something that caught my attention immediately, and ever since then I have held these guys in fairly high regard for creating some of the most earth shattering and pounding noise rock I’ve heard come out so far in this decade. Reprisal brings back the Neanderthal like drumming and the vomit inducing low-end bass of Amphetamine Reptile stalwarts Hammerhead and Unsane. The vocals from Jesse Matthewson are absolutely vicious sounding on Reprisal, sounding completely unhinged and genuinely pissed. This is an album full of attitude, a bad one at that, and I couldn’t be happier.

Although Mongrel was a strong release, Reprisal has definitely topped it. It’s a mammoth sounding record that for the listener doesn’t let up for a second. It’s easily one of my favorite heavy releases of the year.

KEN Mode – I Simply Am Not There [MP3]
KEN Mode – Hibernation Has Never Been a Better Option [MP3]

Go out and buy this album people. There is no reason not to. You can pick it up through Very Distro or you can head on over to their MySpace where you can hear more from the record and also purchase it on there as well.