KYLESA at the Annex Wreckroom (794 Bathurst), Saturday (January 22), 7 pm. See listing.
It’s typical for a band to skirt genre conventions, though rarer for bands as earthshakingly heavy as Kylesa. Then again, Kylesa aren’t your typical metal band.
“It’s not like we play with some sort of agenda,” says guitarist Phillip Cope. “We just get together to write, and this is what comes out of it.”
Loaded with elements somewhat exotic to the metal scene – two drummers, multi-gender vocals, a sharp focus on melody – the Savannah, Georgia, quintet’s fifth album, Spiral Shadow (2010, Season of Mist), expands Kylesa’s palette further beyond the genre’s sonic hallmarks. Their incorporation of psych, hardcore and 90s alt-rock influences risks alienating the purists.
“We’ve always had fans from different walks of life,” Cope says. “It’s not something we worry too much about. We’re just glad there are people out there who dig what we do.”
