Shows at Madison's Project Lodge are usually pretty entertaining endeavors. The folks who book bands bring in a good variety of underground independent types and the occasional ball crushing metal/hardcore show. Last night was the latter.
I found myself thumbing through the Onion on my break at work this past Monday and discovered a platinum chunk of info on one of the final pages of the AV Club listings: KEN fucking Mode was coming to town. Should I have discovered this listing a day late, my inevitable end would have come today after typing up a shitty suicide blog. I consider myself lucky to find out about it, but borderline pissed since the Project Lodge DIDN'T EVEN POST ABOUT THE SHOW ON THEIR WEBSITE. Even if it was a last minute gig, which I doubt, get your shit together Project Lodge crew.
Anyway, I've been into the band for maybe a year, but kind of off the walls into since their latest, Venerable, came out and I picked it up. The harshed out noise rock meets metallic hardcore barrage is as much refreshing as it is tried and true in the scene today.
I rolled up with some homeboys pretty much in time to see The Antiprism play the last half of their final song. I've seen them before so I wasn't too disappointed. They are a Madison fixture in the metal scene, but didn't strike much of a chord with me so, eh.
After some large pulls from my wine bottle I ventured back into the venue to see Black Goat finish setting up and fire up the smoke machine. Dudes came out in corpse paint, which ruled. What ruled more was one of the guitarists sporting a 2 Live Crew shirt. Fuck yeah. Appearances aside, this band is built for some serious speed. The stark transition from the instrumental opener to 2nd song was like making the jump to light speed. Black Goat could probably do the Kessel run in a respectable amount of parsecs. I was in a short lived band with their drummer, Goatlord, and the man knows his way about a kit. His services are in high demand all over the area. The axemen don't disappoint either, as they shredded their way through the smoky set. On top of this was a shrieking vocalist who, despite his lack of stage banter and presence, completed the aural assault.
A few more pulls later KEN Mode had completed their stage setup and were ready to do their best in bringing the ceiling down. It was quite a change up going from 2 black metal types to the bruising hardcore stylings of those 3 Canadian boys, but a welcome one nonetheless. The group tore up the place with their first couple tracks including 'The Book of Muscle'. By 'tore up the place' I mean I engaged in full on headbanging madness. It wouldn't have mattered if I had brought earplugs because they would have jettisoned my ears due to the force of my overall body thrashing. Note: I've never been a huge pit fan or a hardcore dancer, but I like to show my support by letting music flow through me in jagged ways without getting too fancy or planned. Just let it out, man. Back to the set, which was loud as hell. KEN Mode created a wall of sound with some songs, seemingly ready to overwhelm the senses. They exhibited the ability to be brutish brawlers and precise attackers throughout their set, which ended with monster track, 'Never Was'. They fucking exploded on that song, an 8-minute build up and release of caustic anger and reckless abandon. My body and mind were aching from the sheer abuse I put them through, but it was worth every penny. Toss some killer merch on top of it all and you've got one hell of a night.
For the love of all that is noisy and brash, get out to a KEN Mode show when they roll into your area.
www.myspace.com/theantiprism
www.myspace.com/blackmountaingoat
www.ken-mode.com/
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