Their best record !

Monarch!, through thick and thicker, have proved to be one of the heaviest bands around. Take the heaviness of Corrupted, smash it together with the sustain and drear of Sunn O))), throw in some blackened influence, and some ghastly female vocals, and you have Monarch. But it's not that simple. Bands like Bloody Panda have followed the same route. But what really sets Monarch! part from the rest? Their ability to keep their recordings interesting. Sunn O))), Bloody Panda, Corrupted can all get a bit dull. But Monarch! manages to break out of the shell of drone doom while not skimping on any of the heaviness. I never thought that a sixteen beat per minute riff could be anything near catchy until I heard this record. I've had it ringing in my head over and over. Emilie's vocals delicately and sometimes brutally laid over glacial riffs of blackened sludge so thick it makes tar look like soup and syrup look like water. Drums so slow you can watch hairs grow in between snare hits and cymbal crashes. This thirty five minute long slab is not a song, not a track, but an experience. Beautifully packaged vinyl with killer artwork to top the whole thing off. A definite blackened gem in any collection.