Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 29/4/2014
Label: All Black
Recording Company
“Passenger”
DD/LP track listing:
1). Intro/Void
07:10
2). Dead Hand
04:25
3). Adhere
08:18
4). Victims
& Hangmen 03:13
5). Gold Watch
09:20
6). Eris 07:26
The
Band:
Gary
Bettencourt | Everything
Review:
If
there's anything we aren't short of in heavy metal these days, it’s d-beat and
black metal. In a way, Black Monolith is a dual citizen of both of these
styles, since it’s rarely in both places at once. There are plenty of
bands that throw Celtic Frost, Discharge, Darkthrone, Mayhem and so on into a
transmitter pod and come out like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly; an ugly, mutated
conglomeration of the original components. Black Monolith is different, in that
rather than melting these pieces together to form a hybrid sound; each
individual component is largely kept separate from the other. That isn't always
the case, but that's how things play out more often than not.
After
a brief intro, the meat of ‘Passenger’ begins with “Void”, which would
understandably earn Black Monolith some comparisons to a band like Deafheaven;
though perhaps it’s more ‘Roads to Judah
Now,
let’s compare that with the next song, “Dead Hand”. Anyone who has heard the
Celtic Frost worship at 4:08 of “In the Shadow of the Horns” from Darkthrone
will find the opening riff of “Dead Hand” to be very familiar. In fact, it’s a
little too similar for my blood, but it’s a stark contrast from the preceding
song. The big chords and melancholy emotion are replaced with head banging
Celtic Frost riffs. Again, it’s very familiar, but it’s played with a ton of
conviction, so it isn't a huge issue for me. Some of that post-black atmosphere
shows up again in the second half, but generally it’s always a sharp turn from
one style to the other.
“Adhere”
and “Victims & Hangmen” follow the same ‘atmospheric black metal to raging
d-beat’ pattern as the first two songs, but things do take yet another turn
with “Gold Watch”. Featuring a dissonant riff made of plucked, individual
notes; it's the sort of thing you might be more likely to hear on an Akerocke
album. It provides another dimension to Black Monolith's sound; one that I
think should be employed more frequently down the road. “Eris”, the final song
of the album begins as a beautifully droning wall of guitar and noise that
seems to be a dreary but on-point conclusion, until it takes on a more hopeful
and positive tone as the drums join in. It ends up sounding like the reflective
closing moments of a very special episode of Dawson
Words by: Daniel
Jackson
You
can get the vinyl here
and DD from the usual places
For
more information:
