Monolord ‘Your Time To Shine’ Review: Swede stoner rock trio bring the goods on new Relapse Records release.
The last we heard from Swedish rockers Monolord, was their 2019 effort No Comfort, an album which in title and scope pre-dated pandemic anxiety through its unique mix of brutality and inner reflection.
The trio are back with Your Time To Shine (Oct 29, Relapse Records) which like No Comfort, lies somewhere between an EP and a LP (while it only features 5 songs, they’re all of such epic length that it’s truly an immersive listen).
The album kicks off with The Weary, beginning with a plodding beat, sinewy guitars and Thomas V Jäger’s clean sonorous vocals that recall vintage Black Sabbath before hypnotic cowbell and tight syncopation brings it closer to Mountain territory, all topped with ethereal Goth overtones that makes for a unique sonic package.
To Each Their Own begins with a lurching QOTSA-esque intro before evolving into evocative Southern rock guitar arpeggios with a warped watery backdrop (which sounds like a Leslie amp, a mellotron or both). It’s an 8 minute tour-de-force that feels like a master class in stoner/doom rock dynamics.
I’ll Be Damned’s begins with double kick drums, hazy feedback, and Mika Häkki’s thunderous bass, all of which sets quite the ominous mood, with cosmic arrangements in the Monster Magnet vein, while the title track diverges slightly from the stoner rock template, sounding both triumphant and mournful at the same time, even throwing down a Latin beat under a spacey midsection (just one of many examples of Esben Willems’ creative drumming).
The band save the best for last, however, with The Sirens of Yersinia, which, expertly and unexpectedly, manages to weave together a thrashy intro and a full-bore mid-song Pink Floydian soundscape. And just when it lulls you into a trance, a doom metal riff breaks the spell and ups the furor, all underpinned by Jäger’s vocals full of mystic imagery and commanding tone.
Your Time To Shine is indeed a worth title of a release that allows Monolord to revel at the height of their powers, charting their own course through a fertile sub-genre, while adding their own unique flourishes.
