Doyle Airence – Monolith (2013)

With a French scene recently growing in numbers and strength, Doyle Airence is another excellent band that is finally getting some attention in the international scene. “Monolith” marks the band’s sophomore release and mixes elements of Post-Hardcore with Ambient. Rock, and Metal. The band’s very unique sound will surely grab you attention and divide opinions since they are far from your typical run-of-the-mill ‘up and coming’ band.

Kicking off with a mood setting atmospheric track, “03.11.11”, it is not until “Painting with Lights” were we first hear the band’s punishing guitars. In this track we have a very typical Pos-Hardcore approach to thins, with devastating screamed vocals and pummeling drums. It is not until “Friendly Fire” that we get some of the band’s more experimental side with a modern sounding Metalcore-ish vibe and some very solid Post-Rock/Post-Metal passages thrown in between. While we are not huge fans of the Metalcore-ish clean vocals, they still fit the melodic aspect of the song very well.

The experimental brilliance continues with the interesting “The Great Collapse” and its very dreamy and melodic approach. The whole mixture of Post-Rock/Metal elements with the harsh Hardocre contrast is quite brilliant and makes songs like “Left Unsaid” and “Liquid Skies” be quite unique. For people liking instrumentals, “Effort.Accumulation.Revelation” and “ Destruction.Discovery.Meditation” are two very solid tracks that nicely re-shape the flow of the release.

Bringing things back into the aggressive side, “Stonefields” delivers a relentless riffing barrage and some very cool tempo changes. One of our favorites is the highly emotional “We Were Kids”, a truly intense track that changes moods constantly and it feels full of aggression. Closing the release we have a dreamy Post-Rock-ish tune titled “Collision”. This track nicely ends a very unique and emotionally charged release on a very ethereal and transcendental note.

Overall, Doyle Airence is not your typical band that sticks to formulas. With “Monolith” they managed to take Post Hardcore a bit further while exploring their limits and unique sense of melody. If you like your music to be challenging and quite unconventional, give this album a try, we are sure you will not regret it.

Label: LifeForce Records

Release: October 29th, 2013

Genre: Post-Hardcore

Country: France