Kei Meets World – ‘The Last User’ [EP] [Album Review]

South Florida-based artist Kei Meets World releases his new EP, The Last User, a five-track collection amalgamating the ferocious muscle of metalcore and the throbbing, driving dynamics of EDM.

The audacity of combining two seemingly adversative genres – metalcore and EDM – is counterintuitive to rational thought processes. It should result in a cacophony of sound. It shouldn’t work. But it does.

The Last User begins with “Intro,” opening on dark, stuttering tones flowing into a dreamy, almost mystical melody, followed by ramping up to headbanging metal guitars pumping out grinding textures.

“Control” launches on growling vocals, setting off an explosive, synth-fueled house rhythm of rippling, industrial-like surfaces. Fierce and edgy, the crash of metal and EDM produces a turbulence of emotions that refuse to diminish, but rather intensify.

A personal favorite because of the interplay between snarling and melodic vocals, “Ice So Cold” offers a sonic balancing act akin to walking a high wire over an abyss, taut and portentous.

The electronic and future bass textures of “Stay Here” deliver shimmery colors rife with luminous tines on the verge of dissonance, creating a delicious nightmarish nursery-rhyme-like tune with shadowy guitar riffs.

“9 Degrees” rides a thumping rhythmic pulse topped by sparkling, chiming tones as a summoning voice invites listeners into a chilly, fantastic world.

With The Last User, Kei Meets World diffuses the essential differences between EDM and metalcore and imagines their meeting point.

The Last User Track Listing:

1. Intro
2. Control
3. Ice So Cold
4. Stay Here
5. 9 Degrees

Run Time: 15:07
Release Date: August 9, 2024
Record Label: Independent