Tag Archives: Monuments

No Consequence – Vimana

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In their brief history so far, UK tech metallers No Consequence haven’t quite reached they heady heights of some of their djent peers. Despite some decent critical acclaim – especially for previous release IO (Basick) – they have been far from the top of the pile alongside the likes of TesseracT and Monuments; perhaps in part due to their lack of a genuinely formidable release that stands up to some of the genre’s greats. With their latest effort, Vimana (also Basick), it feels they are beginning to live up to their true potential.

Always managing to combine both the atmospheric, drifting sides and the sheer heaviness of the tech metal genre with great fluidity, Vimana is the realization of these two sides and the chemistry being honed. In fact, at their most visceral they are perhaps the most convincing and ferocious under the djent banner, bringing to mind the recent Murdock release when it comes to their dissident nature. Perhaps their more melodic moments are used more sparingly, and often as introductory passages; and as seductive as they prove it is a drawback that they aren’t explored further here. When they are married together more overtly, such as on the glorious “Disconnect” it really shows how they have evolved, with Kaan Tasan really showcasing his vocal talents in both arenas.

Whether or not this album will see No Consequence reach the equal footing with their peers remains to be seen, but for the first time they genuinely seem deserving to be put into that bracket. With a great reliance on their heavier side for the most part, it would be desirable to seem them explore further into their softer elements that have been done so sumptuously here. A career best for them so far and one that should bump up their profile, and it still feels that there is a whole lot more to come.

 

7.0/10

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CHRIS TIPPELL


Monuments Announce UK-Euro Tour With No Consequence, etc

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Monuments have confirmed their The Amanuesis Experience Tour 2015 for the UK and Europe this spring. No Consequence will be supporting the entire tour, and Murdock (UK only) and Vitja (Germany only) will be on select dates.

Apr 25: Hit The Deck – Bristol (UK) (Monuments only)
Apr 26: Hit The Deck – Nottingham (UK) (Monuments only)
Apr 29: Magnet – Berlin (DE) (with Vitja)
Apr 30: C.S. Miasta – Wroclaw (PL)
May 01: Gladhouse – Cottbus (DE) (with Vitja)
May 02: Lux – Hannover (DE) (with Vitja)
May 03: MTC – Koeln (DE (with Vitja)
May 04: Schlachthof – Wiesbaden (DE) (with Vitja)
May 06: Backstage By The Mill – Paris (FR)
May 07: MJC O Totem – Lyon (FR)
May 08: Bootleg – Bordeaux (FR)
May 09: Black Sheep – Montpellier (FR)
May 10: Mundwerk – Zurich (SW)
May 12: Audiodrome – Turin (IT)
May 13: La Tenda – Modena (IT) – Free Show
May 14: E20 – Vincenza (IT)
May 15: Shelter – Wien (AT)
May 17: Trix Bar – Antwerp (BE)
May 19: Winston – Amsterdam (NL)
May 20: Green Door Store – Brighton (UK)(with Murdock)
May 21: Clwb Ifor Bach – Cardiff (UK)(with Murdock)
May 22: Corporation – Sheffield (UK)(with Murdock)
May 23: Satan’s Hallow – Manchester (UK)(with Murdock)
May 24: Mash House – Edinburg (UK)(with Murdock)
May 27: Stereo – Glasgow (UK)(with Murdock)
May 27: Borderline – London (UK)

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—————————————-The Amanuensis Experience – Tour 2015MONUMENTSNo ConsequenceVITJA (in…

Posted by MONUMENTS on Monday, March 30, 2015


Neberu – Impulsions

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In a pretty short space of time since their inception, German progressive metaller’s Neberu have achieved an envious amount already. Sharing the stage with likeminded peers such as Monuments and Eskimo Callboy, plus signing to Famined Records and a debut album expected early next year; all whilst maintaining their boyish looks… the swine! Revisiting their debut EP Impulsions (Famined), as imperfect as it may be it is clear how and why these youngsters have ascended so far already.

Touting themselves as an experimental entity with a vast array of influences; Impulsions doesn’t give this air of breaking the mold at first, seeming to fall into the echelons of djent/metalcore influenced bands out there – a huge bulk sees the transition between harsh and clean vocals and the use of breakdowns that has become generic staples in such climes.

Over time however their hints of diversity begin to shine through. ‘Autoconstant’, for example, drops its pace halfway through for a dreamy, atmospheric passage of subtle ambient electronica before it erupts once again, while EP highlight ‘Alleviate’ even veers into a brief jazz interlude towards the end.

These are flashes however and the majority is still styles and sounds we have heard many a time; even vocally it sounds reminiscent to hordes of acts out there. Still this is a very formidable EP for such a young entity in a very crowded field and by building further on their diverse influences this quintet can become a significant presence in tech metal’s slightly stagnating waters.

 

6.0/10

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CHRIS TIPPELL


Dillinger Escape Plan, Monuments, etc Confirmed For Hevy Fest 2015

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Hevy Fest 2015 will take place from August  14-15, 2015 at Port Lympne Animal Park, and has announced its initial line up. Confirmed acts include:

The Dillinger Escape Plan
Monuments
Vales
Grader
Up River
Ohhms
Collisions

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Devin Townsend Project – Animals As Leaders –  Monuments: Live at the Worcester Palladium

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On what may be the coldest night ever experienced in a jammed pack Worcester Palladium, the Abstract Reality Tour was able to heat up Massachusetts on an early December night. From the moment opening band, Monuments, hit the stage until security was trying to clear the floor after The Devin Townsend Project, the energy in the venue did not dwindle. The Abstract Reality Tour consisted of Monuments, Animals As Leaders, and The Devin Townsend Project. Some might say that three bands was not enough for this tour, but I beg to differ. Personally, I have seen both Animals As Leaders and HeavyDevy’s solo band a multitude of times but I always hope for longer set lists and this was a perfect set up for that. To start the night off, however, I was able to see a band I had never seen or even listened to before.

 

Monuments was a band I had always heard great things about (especially after their recent tour with Scale the Summit) but never really gave the time and attention to them. Well, I am proud to say that I was happily surprised. The best way I could explain the sound of Monuments to someone who does not know them, think of an early djent band such as Tesseract or Textures, but with vocals that were very similar to that of Lajon Witherspoon of Sevendust fame. Monuments did a great job with the time they had in trying to push their newest release that came out this year, entitled The Amanuensis (Century Media). The Worcester crowd got a total of six songs in this short opener slot where four were from the new album and two from the first release, Gnosis. There was one track, which unfortunately the title has escaped my mind, where lead singer, Chris Barretto, actually picked up a saxophone and played a very melodic, but appropriate, intro and then picks it back up halfway through for a solo that was truly ground shaking in the metal world.

Up next were co-headliners, arguably one of the biggest instrumental heavy bands out there today, Animals As Leaders. Lead by virtuoso guitarist, Tosin Abasi, the progressive threesome played a slew of songs off all 3 albums. Obviously with a new release out this year (The Joy of Motion (Sumerian) I would expect a heavy list of newer tracks. AAL actually did a fantastic job of playing a good mix of new versus old with six off the new album and seven off of previous releases (five off the Self-Titled, two off Weightless). Oh and for the few concerned fans out there, yes, they closed with CAFO again. Complete with a mind bending video/light show in the background, I tend to lose track of where band members are and just lose myself in the visuals in front of me and the music all around. Each and every time I am truly happy with this band and their live performance. The only burning question in the back of my mind over this band: How in the Hell do these kids mosh to this?

 

 

Finally it was time for the main event. The man behind DTP and everyone’s favorite coffee drinking alien, Ziltoid, was hitting the Palladium stage, ready for another comedic and awkward live performance. Again, coming into this show with a brand new double disk release (one for Ziltoid, one for DTP) most expected a list with mostly new tracks. Just like their co-headliners in Animals As Leader, The Devin Townsend Project did a great job mixing between old and new with exactly six old versus six new. To juggle up the set even more, the Worcester fans were treated to some old classics such as the opener, ‘Regulator’, ‘Bad Devil’, and ‘War’. New tracks were also a fair split, four from Dark Matters which is the Ziltoid disk and three from Sky Blue, the DTP disk. March of the Poozers, Z2, and Ziltoid Goes Home were some of the tracks from the Ziltoid disk while ‘Rejoice’ and ‘Midnight Sun’ were a couple off of the DTP release. For the bigger fans of Ziltoid than that of the DTP music, you can be happy knowing that most of the corny dialogue and narrator as found on the recording were used as samples throughout the ZIltoid songs. Personally I loved watching the poozer walkers march on the screens during, you guessed it, ‘March of the Poozers’. Also, ‘Ziltoid Goes Home’ may be one of the most epic songs I have ever seen Devin play live. Of course I am always open to a possible live performance of ‘Deadhead’… wink wink Devin. One of the best moments, even if it was the end of the night, was where Devin did not want to leave the stage and go outside into the cold so after playing Grace, he made the crowd pretend they left the stage, let us chant for another song for a minute or so, then Devin pretended to make his way back to the stage. At this point, Devin introduced the encore/last song of the night which was the rewritten version of ‘Kingdom’ as found on Epicloud which may be one of the greatest songs he’s written, even if it took twice to get it to where he wanted it.

Overall, another great show at the Worcester Palladium. Three great progressive bands with very different sounds and messages played to their fans for what was a very energetic night. It is safe to say that most shows a fan could attend would end up being described as “brutal” or maybe even a simple “great.”

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Devin Townsend Project

Animals As Leaders

Monuments

 

WORDS BY TIM LEDIN

PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON


Monuments – The Amanuensis

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Alongside the likes of Textures and TesseracT, Monuments were one of the driving forces of djent during the movements’ initial explosion, back when it little more than an online community. In the following years, djent became huge news with bands such as TesseracT, Uneven Structure and Chimp Spanner taking the world by storm whilst Monuments were yet to release their debut album. Finally in 2012 Gnosis saw the light of day (with guest work from Chimp Spanner’s Paul Ortiz) with the band having a lot of ground and momentum to recover, but a set of songs that rightfully put them in the top crop of such acts.

 

Two years on and the band have a new album in The Amanuensis (Century Media), a new vocalist in ex-Periphery vocalist Chris Barreto, and, as a result, somewhat of an evolution to their palette. Chris’ vocals vastly improve on Matt Rose’s, with a range, diversity and bravery akin to Mike Patton. The typical transition between soaring singing and growls are present and done to a top level while elsewhere there are hints at his experimentation. ‘Saga City’ for example begins with a near gospel like soulful vocal passage before the song erupts.

 

The rest of the band seems rejuvenated by the new presence at front. As brilliant as Gnosis was, it did prove fairly straightforward with a more limited vocalist (well, as straightforward as a prog metal band can be), but here they are beginning to feel unshackled. Musically there is no huge departure from before, songs still have that recognisable tone and are founded on massive melodic passages and chugging riffs, but a wealth of ideas is beginning to creep through. Final track ‘Samsara’ brings the whole album concept full circle with a lyrical repetition of opener ‘I, The Creator’, a chanted incantation over a moody folky back drop.

 

The Amanuensis offers some of the bands most memorable and best songs such as ‘I, The Creator’ and ‘Garden Of Sankhara’ and the only niggle here is the thought of how much further they could take their sound now they have a vocalist with a huge dynamic and near seamless delivery. The Amanuensis is a bar-setter for djent, and still it only hints at the possibilities of what these guys can offer.

789 

 

9.0/10.0

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CHRIS TIPPELL

 

 


Download Festival Preview

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With summer right around the corner, it’s time to get psyched for festival season. In the UK, there is no event bigger or more venerable than Download. As the feisty offspring of the legendary Monsters of Rock concerts at Castle Donnington in  Donnington Park that lived in the imagination of rock and metal fans the world over for two decades, Download is as value packed as ever with bands. This years lineup shows a willingness not to be intimidated or outshine by the competition of other big festivals, the UK or elsewhere in Europe.

 

Held over three days, 13-15 of June at Donnington Park on five stages daily, the 2014 lineup is a bold one that promises something for everyone to enjoy. Bands of note for Friday include the much talked about headliners Avenged Sevenfold, Opeth, Anathema, Rob Zombie, Within Temptation, Black Label Society, Quicksand, Skindred, Miss May I, Huntress, Bloody Hammers as well as Bad Religion and Offspring.

 

Saturday blends the catchy, more mainstream fair with the best of modern underground metal. Linkin Park is playing all of their Hybrid Theory album and for fans of a certain age, that will sure bring back a few things. Among the main bands that our readers would most be interested in Killswitch Engage, Fozzy and Dying Fetus play along with Bring Me the Horizon and others. I kind of feel bad for everyone that has to follow Dying Fetus actually, so #WhyNotDyingFetus indeed. The other big band of import this day is Behemoth, who is coming of a sizzling run of shows in the UK and the USA recently. Other big bands include the reactivated American Headcharge, The Black Dahlia Murder, Orange Goblin, Monster Magnet, Battlecross, Anathema doing a special second unplugged set, Skid Row, Chevelle, and Sikth. Also for the more rock motivated Twister Sister, Status Quo and Ginger Wildhearts solo sets are are worth seeing.

 

On the final day Download has brought out the big guns, quite literally in Aerosmith. While their recent music is nothing to write home about, they always step up big live and play all of their hits brilliantly. Other worthy bands on Sunday include Alter Bridge, The Dillinger Escape Plan and their insane stage antics, Trivium, Volbeat, Philip Anselmo and the Illegals, Sabaton, Sepultura, Suicide Silence, Red Dragon Cartel, Avatar, Thy Art Is Murder, Kill Devil Hill, Monuments, Polar and Nick Oliveri (Kyuss, QOTSA, Dwarves) solo acoustic.

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