Monarch – Omens (2012)

Hailing from France, today we have an album that is so thick and monolithic that will rattle your speakers and make your neighbors call the cops on you. Monarch’s sixth full-length release “Omens” delivers 36 minutes of crushing Drone/Sludge Metal that is definitely not for the weak. With only three tracks in this release, the band delivers a very long and devastating compositions that will surely have any Drone/Sludge/Doom fan raving about for a very long time.

Opening with the 13 minute behemoth “Blood Seeres”, the band’s distorted guitars will surely catch your attention (with feedback and everything). But it is probably the vocals, courtesy of Emilie Bresson, that will be the most disturbing element of this track. Emilie’s screams are just too raw and brutal to even begin to describe. The guitars are tune way low, just like the doctor ordered for a release in these genres, courtesy of Shiran Kaïdine of Year of No Light fame.

The ‘breather’ track “Transylvanian Incantations” is a pretty weird atmospheric piece that serves as a very nice middle piece to this very crushing album. Just before you start getting comfortable with the interlude track; “Black Becomes the sun” makes its way with some crushing riffing and a more natural Funeral Doom Metal feeling. The atmospheric elements at the beginning shape the song in a direction that you would not expect from this band, but this is only to come back to some more deranged screams and even some ‘fast’ drumming. The transformation of this track is very well crafted and moves from ethereal to full on sludge mode.

If you want disturbing and unnerving, “Omens” has all of that nicely packed in 36 minutes of Drone/Sludge magic. The guitars will make your speakers rattle and the vocals will haunt you forever. While we are not huge fan of the genres the band plays, we can surely appreciate such a monolithic release and will surely be playing this album a lot more than we originally intended. So be sure to get this release when it drops at the end of February on At a Loss Recordings.

Release: February 28th, 2012

Country: France