Monday, October 7, 2013

Monachus/Below/Alert Antifacista Records/2013 CD Review

 
   Monachus  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  an  atmospheric  version  of  sludge  metal  mixed  with  post  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of their  2013  album  "Below"  which  was  released  by  Alert  Antifacista  Records.

   "Waves"  begins with  some  atmospheric  and  drone  sounds  along  with  some powerful bass  guitars  and  after  a  minute  heavy  and  melodic  doom  metal  guitar  riffs  make  their  way into  the  song along  with  some  clean  singing  melodic  vocals  which  also  utilize  some  aggressive  sludge  elements  and  after  awhile  post  rock  style  guitar leads  make  their  way  into  the  song  and  midway  through  the  song  there is  a  brief  use  of  clean  elements  being  utilized.

 
  ''Curse"  begins  with  some  distorted  and  atmospheric  background sounds  which  lead  to some  heavy  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  some  drums  and  then  the  aggressive  sludge  style  screams  start  kicking  in  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  riffing  and  a  few  seconds  alter  clean  singing  vocals  make  their presence  known in the  song  and  halfway  through  the  song there are  some  noise/drone  sound  effects  being  utilized  in  the  background  and  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  death  metal  growls  being  utilized.

  "Circles"  begins with  some  synth  sounds  and  a  few seconds  later  clean  playing and  drum  beats  make  their  way  into  the  song  and  after  a  couple of  minutes  the  drums  get  louder  along  with  some melodic  guitar  riffing  which  also  leads  to  some aggressive  yet  melodic  vocals  and  heavier  elements  kicking  in  and  a  few  seconds  later  clean  singing  female  vocals  are  added  into the  song  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  leads  and  halfway  through  the  song  the  cleaner  elements  return for  awhile  along  with  some  clean  singing  male  vocals  and  towards  the end  the  music  starts  getting  heavy  again.

  "Onward"  begins  with  some  soft  and  clean  guitar  playing  before  getting  heavy  and  adding  in  some  some  and  aggressive/melodic  vocals  and  a  few  seconds  alter  powerful  bass  guitars  and  spoken  word  parts  are  added  into  the  song  and  as  time goes  on  by  there  are  some  melodic  guitar  riffs  thrown  into  the  music  along  with  some  synths.

  Song  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  depression  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  dark  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  along  with  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Monachus  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  sludge  metal  band  with  elements  of  post  rock  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  Curse"  and  "Onward".  RECOMMENDED  BUY."      

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