We are still wrapping up all the goodness of 2022 with some fun guest posts. Check out this list from Merlock! The Stoner Doom/Psych band from The Pacific Northwest has a new record, Onward Strides Colossus, releasing soon on February 24th, 2023; so stay tuned for new music here. In the meantime, check out Merlock’s list of Top Releases from fellow Tru Z0inked Warriors:
Los Angeles, California based metal blog turned record label Metal Assault will be celebrating the 12-year anniversary of its February 13, 2010 inception with a two-day festival, February 12th and 13th 2022 at Transplants Brewing, a brewery plus live music venue in Palmdale CA. In addition, Metal Assault is also hosting a pre-party on Friday February 11, at Supply and Demand in Long Beach CA. The weekend will feature an eclectic assortment of 22 bands, including several representatives from the Metal Assault Records roster, as well as some non-roster bands that Metal Assault has supported and worked with over the years, plus a few local opening acts.
For all the talk of sophisticated song structures, syncopated rhythms and harmonised vocalising that can often dominate reviews of records nowadays, sometimes it’s just nice to sit back, relax and be absolutely pummelled into submission by an album that is considerably more metal than you. Architects of the Void (independent/self-released), the third album from doom metallers Behold! the Monolith (no, I have no idea why they dispensed with the rules of grammar either) is one such record.
Upon first listen, Architects of the Void appears to eschew anything that would remotely suggest a lightness of touch. It arrives as the sort of record that is unapologetic in its roots and sense of self; belligerent in its execution and resolutely single-minded with how it brings a smile to your face and a crick to your neck.
Upon repeated listens however, the album reveals a much richer palette of sounds and creative touches; there is an undoubted progressive sensibility at play here – whether in the blending of musical styles (admittedly from the far left of the heaviness range) or in the playful riffing and energised pounding that comes from an understanding that, as listeners, we want this music to move us. And moves it does.
The doom metal architecture of ‘Lord of Bones’ is gloriously sludgy, there is a heft and glowering to ‘Philosopher’s Blade’, and the extended, rhythmical menace to the title track is absolutely beguiling. In fact, the entire enterprise is imbued with that sort of glorious, we-know-exactly-what-we-are-doing-and-we-are-having-a-marvellous-time-whilst-we-are-doing-it schtick that will have you running around your abode looking for a cap, proverbial or otherwise, to doff at them.
Monolith’s journey to this agreeable space might have come from digesting quite a lot of Mastodon records but that is hardly a bad thing. In fact, on ‘The Mithriditist’, it is demonstrated with a combination of power, precision and panache. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then this is something akin to a love letter.
Architects of the Void is the sort of record that you could easily pass by such is the vying for competition in today’s musical marketplace; please don’t. It’s inventive, passionate and as heavy as you could possibly wish for. Do you need any more than that? No, no you don’t.
7.5/10
MAT DAVIES
