By: Mark Ambrose
Album Type: Full-length
Date Released: 02/09/2017
Label: Indepedent
With a little bit of trimming, their debut
would be a contender for breakout of the year.
As it stands, this should portend greatness for a duo as eclectic and
skilled as any I’ve heard in 2017.
“Monte
Luna” CD//DD//CS track listing
1). The
Burning of Elohim
2). Nameless
City
3). 6000
Year March
4). Nightmare
Frontier
5). Inverted
Mountain
6). The
End of Beginning
The Review
This year has been an absolute banger when
it’s come to excellent records. With so
much brutal filth to laud, Owlcrusher, Belus, Shroud Eater, and Fister
all put out shatteringly exceptional releases.
With a self-released, self-titled debut LP, Monte Luna throw their hat in the power duo ring and
perform admirably, a psychedelic, spacey blast of eclectic stoner metal, Monte Luna goes all in with six tracks that range from
blast beat fury to soulful blues riffage.
It’s tempting to think “The Burning of Elohim”, the shortest track (at nearly five
minutes), is an introduction for the massive cuts that follow. But it’s too full on its own to be a mere
intro cut. Clarke’s abrupt shifts between
shriek and croon are almost disarming, but ultimately a real asset. His dexterity in guitar styles serves as an
guiding principle for Monte Luna, as Phil
Hook can instantly lock into a bluesy, soulful swing or pummel through
punishing blast beats. On “Nameless City”, a thirteen minute doom
jam centered around beefy riffing and Clarke’s grungey, bluesy vocal, Hook
stands out with precise but loose meat and potatoes rock drumming that serves
the doom fretwork, especially when guest guitarist Jon-Paul Girard goes for an
extended wah-wah jaunt through pentatonic scales loaded with some vintage Blue Cheer fuzz.
The feedback-heavy martial tone of “6000 Year March” sounds like the music
an orc would blast before heading into battle, complete with shrieking tri-tone
riffs and a husky, yowling vocal delivery from Clarke. The ambient outro, layered with samples of
occult movie dialogue, feels a bit overlong, especially since the next track, “Nightmare Frontier”, is an abrupt
departure. Pushing his voice into
soulful heights, Clarke almost sounds like Cedric Bixler-Zavala, albeit in a
less falsetto register. The subdued bass and drum line, countered by a sinewy,
sludgy riff, makes “Nightmare Frontier”
an irresistible banger. When the track
culminates in an ascending guitar lead, there’s no doubt that this is the
standout cut on the record.
If “Nightmare
Frontier” is the catchiest cut, “Inverted
Mountain” may be the absolute filthiest track. Clarke pushes his vocals to shredded
extremes, and the relentless feedback is molar rattling. A downbeat midsection, seething with sonic manipulations
courtesy of Hook, witnesses Clarke careening from forlorn wailing to sinister
crooning, before launching into speed metal mania. The end of this brutal sprint also highlights
the one glaring issue of the record: the extended ambient codas. When the following track, “The End of Beginning”, has its own
mellow intro, the appended few minutes feel like a real drag. Which is a shame considering the finale is a
brutal assault on its own, vaulting from slow dirge to blast beat assault. Clarke once again pushes his vocals to
extremes, and his guitar ranges from ethereal to demonic. That this stellar track has another outro –
this time acoustic – only diminishes the transcendent, destructive finale.
When measured against the heft and might of
the majority of this otherwise excellent debut, Monte Luna’s
sonic noodlings are a bit nitpicky. But
the truth is that this stellar combo only obscures its own songwriting and
performance chops. The finale to “The End is Beginning” feels like the
chaos and violence of Ragnarok itself… until they tack on a few extra bars and
nature sounds. With a little bit of
trimming, their debut would be a contender for breakout of the year. As it stands, this should portend greatness
for a duo as eclectic and skilled as any I’ve heard in 2017.
“Monte Luna” is
available here
