Monolithe‘s fourth long-distance act consolidates the enviable status of a band unable to miss a beat since its appearance on the funeral doom scene, dating back a decade now with I. The transalpine band’s career can be broadly divided into two distinct phases: the first with I, II and the ep Interlude Premiere, released between 2003 and 2007, and the current one, with Interlude Second and III released last year and the latest IV. Monolithe of the first period, although they were not entirely comparable to traditional funeral, nevertheless operated in an area contiguous to it, signaling themselves particularly by their use of a single track, normally calibrated to fifty minutes in duration, in the course of which the somber scores were diluted; III, in this sense, marked a turning point by leading Sylvain Bégot’s band to venture into a style marked by greater dynamism, breaking away in part from the typical funeral stylistic features and showing appreciable variations within the usual very long suite. In light of this, even if it was legitimate to think that in the musical imagination of the Parisian band that glimmer of light that was beginning to be discerned was about to turn into something more than an uncertain flame, IV again brings the sound back to plunge into total darkness, and a few sporadic female chorus or some passages with an almost solemn tone are not enough to lift the listener from the abyss into which ours have once again plunged him. Monolithe on this occasion bring down the personal record for duration, pushing it up to an impressive fifty-seven minutes, marked by a haunting yet fascinating theme that, in practice, unravels between Richard Loudin’s adequate growl and distorted guitars diluted to the point of unthinkability, in a picture that at times takes on apocalyptic tones but is capable of dissolving into passages of great emotional involvement. If III was certainly not an easy-listening work, IV goes even further until it touches the boundaries of incommunicability: penetrating its essence is a test that, if passed, gives as a coveted prize an hour of rare emotional intensity. With these last two works, Monolithe have in fact created a completely recognizable sound, and never before has their moniker fit perfectly with the feeling of music of rare compactness, developed by a band that has probably reached the highest point of its artistic parabola.

2013 – Debemur Morti Productions