3 out of 5

Label: Profound Lore Records

Produced by: Kurt Ballou

While some tracks on Venerable look ahead to the mad, furious speed-riffing of Entrench, at this 2010 stage in the game, KM were, for all intents and purposes, a more ‘traditional’ sounding hardcore band, albeit one with above average lyrics from vocalist / guitarist Jesse Mathewson and ever vicious instrument pummeling from drummer Shane Matthewson and bassist Chad Tremblay.  That last bit – the viciousness – is really what’s turned up to 11 on Venerable, and unfortunately, it’s what masks the strengths that Matt Bayles helped bring to the fore of their following album: the band’s nuance, and the range available to their talent.  Whether encouraged by or playing to Ballou’s habits of live recordings, KEN mode makes everything loud, loud loud, with the low-end bass rumbling non-stop and washing out some of the space between the notes.  This makes tracks like ‘Never Was’ sound raw, which is the goal, but as its a composition that revels in quiet / loud dynamics, shearing off some of that rawness could’ve amplified the sound juxtaposition.  It’s a tough tradeoff, because the group’s aggression isn’t indulgent: every throaty yell and bash of drums and guitar explosion feels right in the moment and purposefully applied, but the overall composition of the album lacks the aural edge to separate the disc from a crowded landscape of similarly awesome mathy hardcore bands.

Though it should be noted that I’m listening to Venerable only after digging on Entrench, so my ears have expectations at this point.