🎶 Kublai Khan TX - Exhibition Of Prowess
Reject blast beats, return to monkeh
I've always had a soft spot for hardcore. The raw, animalistic energy of (mostly) young people who are angry and frustrated with the world, and how all of that rage comes out in the music. It's one of those genres that can instantly put me in a mood where the rest of the world fades away for a while and I just live in this raw state of the emotion brought on by the music.
Kublai Khan is not really a band I'd heard much about until 2023. I was randomly recommended a video from the fantastic YouTube channel 'hate5six' which is full of live shows by hardcore bands (recorded with top notch sound quality btw). The band had a groove and a certain power in their sound that really resonated with me, so when this new album dropped in late September I was ready.
Suffice to say, it lived up to my expectations and then some. This might be the heaviest record I have ever heard, and I have heard a lot of heavy shit in my time. This is the kind of music that makes you want to bang your chest like a gorilla, lift heavy things, and just tear the world apart. The chugs are deep, the groove is undeniable, and the guitar tone is so deep and distorted you wouldn't be blamed for thinking there was something wrong with their equipment.
One of my favorite aspects of Kublai Khan is just how angry their vocalist Matt Honeycut sounds. He hits the perfect range of growling shouts that serve this kind of music so well, almost barking some of the lyrics at times. If you ever want to just go primal ape shit for a little while, I can think of no better soundtrack than this. As the first line in Theory of Mind goes; "Monkey see, monkey do"!
You can enjoy this hardcore masterpiece in its entirety on Spotify, or through this YouTube playlist uploaded by the band itself.
Favorite tracks: Darwinism, Theory of Mind, Mud, and Low Tech.