When I first heard Kenai‘s ‘At Mercy’s Hand’ EP I was floored. For a bunch of young kids to seemingly come out of nowhere and write an EP which, to me anyway, is the best thing since Thrice‘s ‘Illusion of Safety’ was incredible. It was seriously the best record it’s type I’d heard in such a long time. I’ve kept my eye on them since then and I’ve been waiting for this album for a while. Expectations high, the test was could the band maintain high quality songs and brilliant musicianship over the course of an entire album?
In short, yes. At times this record does sound a bit samey and there are a couple of filler tracks, but the good tracks are really good. Really, really good. ‘Bleed The Year’, for instance, does sound a lot like Thrice, but then Thrice haven’t sounded like Thrice for about five years so how can that be a bad thing?! Opener ‘They Survived, Only To Consume Each Other’ has one of the best riffs I’ve heard from a homegrown band, like, ever. It really does have that massive Thrice vibe with a technical riff and a brilliantly delivered vocal. It’s a great kick off. ‘Manhattan’ and ‘Hostages’ carry on in the same vein, huge, huge singalong hooks and choruses with some monster riffs. There’s no doubt Kenai are at their best when they push the pedal to the floor – ‘Let Go’ is much slower and more melodic, less technical too. It’s a decent song, it just made me think ‘radio friendly unit shifter’ the first few times I heard it.
If this record does not send Kenai into more people’s homes it would be criminal. It does have more than a few passing similarities to early Thrice, but it’s done to such a high standard that you have to admire them. The songs are really, really strong. They’re well thought out, very well recorded and they sound huge. Kenai are the best band at what they do in the UK by a mile. Pick this up.