Kaonashi

Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year

Written by: PP on 05/11/2021 00:58:48

Kaonashi's debut album "Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year" has been drawing some attention since its release just before the summer. The reasons are numerous: its spastic soundscape rivals that of mid-2000s post-hardcore wizards like The Fall Of Troy and HORSE The Band, where it felt like just about everything was OK to try within your expression. The music itself is angular and chaotic, relying on unconventional stop/start passages, progressive sequences that break halfway through with zero explanation, and an overload of energy that overwhelms any first-time listener, guaranteed. If Myspace had a sound, Kaonashi would very much be it, albeit a decade and a half after the original social platform's demise.

But let's not avoid the unavoidable any further: Kaonashi sports one of the most violently aggressive vocalists you'll encounter in today's scene. Drawing influence from cacophonic original screamo, Peter Rono's relentlessly off-tune, high-pitched scream is sure to divide the opinion, but on the other hand, his unforgiving delivery contrasts the Coheed And Cambria style challenging instrumentals nicely and truly sets Kaonashi apart from their peers. It's safe to say I haven't heard anything as unusual as this since the last "Heavy Heavy Low Low" record that also defied common logic of how music should or could sound like.

Essentially, Kanoashi takes the post-hardcore genre and draw from the likes of Dance Gavin Dance, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, and many others, whilst merging in metalcore, mathcore, and other influence in the process. It's a story of complete disregard for melody balanced against a few clean vocal passages, whilst also relying on the urgency and immediacy from screamo, resulting in one of the most energetic studio records you'll listen to in 2021. It's angular, it's challenging, and as Rono himself states, "We want this record to make people anxious". Damn straight - it's also a record that'll slowly chip away at your soul with its complex story and its repulsive vocal style that's sure to put off everyone but the genre champions. As such, it deserves much credit for its fresh take on the style, but the piercing vocals are just so darn off-putting it's difficult to enjoy the album in longer stretches.

Download: T.A.Y.L.O.R, Broad Street (Take Me Home), Run Away Jay
For the fans of: Heavy Heavy Low Low, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, The Fall Of Troy, Dance Gavin Dance
Listen: Facebook

Release date 21.05.2021
Rude Records / Equal Vision Records

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