Album review: Monolord  - Empress Rising (category: Doom Metal, Sludge, Stoner)
Release date: April 1st, 2014 
Easyriderrecords.com
Twitter: @MonolordSweden

** 01.04.2014 Errata: I have since noticed that the album tracks have been reversed on reviewing this album for some odd reason on my PC's media player program. Since putting the album on my mp3 player, the order was in the correct orientation. Apologies for any confusion with regards to track order. **

On the odd occasion, a band comes from nowhere – and I mean literally from out of nowhere and just kicks the living shit out of you sonically. On my Twitter feed, I had heard a lot of excited babbling about other doom releases – notably Conan's 'Blood Eagle' (a superb doom release that is highly recommended) and Slomatic's 'Estron'. (again, another very decent doom release).

One night, the editor dudes of Echoes and Dust sent me a direct message one evening telling me about a Swedish six legged doom machine called Monolord – and sent me the album to check out. It had already been reviewed on their own website so it seemed churlish to just have the album sitting there and to not tell the world about about it.

I have to say - God's fucking tits – WHAT AN ALBUM!

Monolord initially started off as a side project born from a band called Marulk – an interesting band in its own right that concentrates on 1970's 'Proto Metal' that reminds me of bands such as Budgie, Mountain, The Stooges, and Black Sabbath. However, some of the guys apparently had some pent up energy that they wanted to channel into something that if turned up high enough could destroy derelict 1970s council flats that you'd see in Liverpool, Birmingham or London. With this band, they have certainly achieved that by the metric fucktonne.

The opener 'Watchers of the Waste' bursts forth from the speakers with a slow cyclical riff that if turned up loud enough causes the windows to warp and small animals and furniture to judder around the living room, thus: “DOWWW WOWWWW! DOW WOOWWW! DOW WOWWW! DOW WOWWWW DOW WOWWW DOWW WOWWWWW!”. Imagine, if you will, the slowest parts of Black Sabbath with a pinch of Electric Wizard and shoved hastily through a special patented doom metal filter of their own insane creation and you'll have a good idea of how it sounds. Further elements in the song creep through, while Thomas Jäger's vocals float over the top of it with a lysergic warble that fits very well with the rest of the sonic bludgeon. Usually, doom bands can usually make a hash of the vocals and make them with too much of a growl of distorted incoherent scream that doesn't sit well – but the vocals are spot on in this case and coherent.

'Icon' continues into a path of deep low fuzz, that makes the spleen vibrate. Despite the low end fuzz, the bass is beautifully coherent and easy to follow 5 minutes into the track before bursting forth from the speakers once more at full attack. The composition of the track is brilliant; a lull of bass with vocals towards almost halfway through before a big 'jam off' commences and finally ends the track. 'Harbinger of Death' starts with a wonderfully distorted but clear bass groove before the guitar and drums come in with a thunderous chug capable of destroying buildings.

Finally, 'Adulhumba' is a nice chuggy instrumental that has a hypnotic riff underpinning the whole tune with 'Empress Rising' being a superb album closer lasting for 12 minutes – reminding me of the best bits of Sleep's 'Dopesmoker', 'Jerusalem' and Electric Wizard's 'Dopethrone' put into a sonic blender that while clearly influenced by such albums adds an identity of their own that can stand head and shoulders above pretty much most doom metal realeases.

To conclude, this album is nothing short of brilliant. Over the years, I've heard many things come and go and seen people get excited over things that were quite frankly bland or boring. I have to say it's deeply refreshing to encounter an album that just has your jaw dropping to the floor in amazement – and Monolord have definitely succeeded in doing this in spades. An essential release, and I will actually go so far to say that it's a doom metal classic. Buy it, or be a tone deaf root vegetable.