Album review: Kaonashi – I Want To Go Home.

An understandable reaction to hearing Kaonashi – whether for the first or hundredth time – would be: “What the fuck am I listening to?” I Want To Go Home. is the Philadelphia band’s third album, after 2018’s Why Did You Do It? And 2021’s Dear Lemon House, You Ruined Me: Senior Year, and is every bit as unhinged and unpredictable as the previous two.

For some, that probably means it’s too much. Since forming in 2012, their experimental and often downright weird music has been incredibly divisive, partly because of frontman Peter Rono’s vocals, which, at times, honestly sound like Miss Piggy shouting angrily.

The second part of a concept series that started with Dear Lemon House… – and was then expanded upon with an EP collection last year – I Want To Go Home. begins with Confusion In A Car Crash. A portentous instrumental full of heavy, chugging riffs, it’s actually relatively normal for Kaonashi, lulling the listener into a false sense of security. But then the chaotic weirdness really begins with Fairmont Park After Dark, a frenzied hyper-metalcore track that features Piantini Toribio from New York hardcore/beatdown band Newcomer. In typical Kaonashi fashion, that’s followed by something completely different – the lilting math-rock-inspired Extra Prayers – before the chaos ramps up again fully with When I Say.

Yet there’s beauty and tenderness here aplenty. It's there in the staccato rush of J.A.M.I.E. (a tragic tale of death that features Anthony Green), the twisted despair of Red Sink, Yellow Teeth, in the harrowing desperation of Slower Forms Of Suicide, the forlorn melancholy of The Sanguine IV — Exit Pt. VII (The Confession of Classroom 2114). The latter is the final track in the suite of songs that closes the record, and it does so with a feeling of profound sadness, proof that in addition to their weirdness, Kaonashi have plenty of depth, passion, pain and substance to impart.

By the band’s very nature, this album won’t be for everyone, but persistence is key. Because the more you stick with it, the more you absorb and understand its songs. Take the time and make the effort to take it in, and the rewards are great – even if you never know quite what the fuck you’re listening to.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Pupil Slicer, The Callous Daoboys, Vein.fm

I Want To Go Home. is out now via Equal Vision