Monarch "s/t" CD
[Pop Faction]
This is the debut full-length from these guys, and it builds on the foundation set out with their EP, but brings in even more influences, making for a pretty strange (yet effective) brew. Hell, opener "On Cinders" kicks off with some really unexpected clean riffing that has an eerie sort of indie rock undercurrent (granted the vocal accompaniment is snarled), only to end up churning through some noisy post-hardcore textures and chunky metalcore complete with pinch harmonics. But all of the songs are quite brief, only one topping four minutes, so that does help keep things moving along. "Apparition" is more of a typical melodic Swedish death metal tune, but still competent for what it is, and they continue to mess with some weird textures to keep it from being too average. "Harlot" follows similar lines but is just crammed with strong riffs, and that really makes a difference, notably when it comes to the Shadows Fall-ish twists that bear resemblances to cock rock or something! What can I say? That stuff's pretty cool! "Controller" is one of the best tracks because it's basically just chunky metal with more of a rhythmic flare and some tactful dissonant melodies and such towards the end that are extremely promising - it's that kind of material they should be focusing on. The same goes for the awesome instrumental "Last Song": Longer, darker, more powerful. The transition from barely distorted guitars and brooding bass melodies to caustic picking brings to mind bands like Explosions in the Sky more than anything else, and is basically 10 times more forceful than the rest of the CD. And there are some weak moments too, unfortunately. "Gnashing of Teeth" has some frantic chords that are too commonplace in the whole metalcore realm for me, and the speedy black metal flirtations of "Lay With Me" really don't gel with the other songs all that much, but it's not a big deal. The sound quality is pretty good. A little rough in spots, but definitely on the crisp side. The vocals are a little loud and the kick drums are too muffled, but despite being somewhat rugged it works. I'd like to hear the bass given more definition, the drums a little more brightness, etc. For the most part the guitars are pretty solid, and I think the vocals would work fine if they were reeled in against the instrumentation more often. The artwork looks pretty nice, using decorative illustrations of women interspersed with floral patterns, but it looks more tasteful than it probably sounds on paper. The lyrics appear in tiny handwritten text inside, so they're hard as fuck to read, but messy or not, it does look cool. I like what this band is doing and think they have a lot more working in their favor than most such acts, so I'm pulling for 'em, but they're still reaching up for that next level. On this outing it's like they're relying on equal parts standard contemporary metalcore versus genuinely creative dynamics, with a few truly impressive moments rising above all. Sometimes their diversity hurts them since the record can feel overly disjoined, but most importantly I just feel like the typical work is still holding down the majority, and I wish they'd stray away from that stuff in favor of the more emotional and interesting work that I know they're capable of. They're still improving though, so we'll see... (6/10)
Running time - 30:11, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: On Cinders, Harlot, Controller, Last Song]
Pop Faction - http://www.popfaction.com

This review has been displayed 1646 times.