Monolithe III and IV, released a year apart, have confirmed the entry of the Parisian band in the elite of funeral doom. Compared to the good previous works, the last two albums show an evolution of the sound in a broad sense, making sure that, while maintaining the distinctive features of the genre, it was averted an excessive withdrawal on itself. Monolithe Zero, of which we will speak at this juncture, is not an album of unreleased tracks (as you can see from the numbering), but it contains the two ep Interlude Premier and Interlude Second, released five years apart from each other and that, in some ways, are emblematic of the two phases of the French doomsters’ career. If Interlude Premier was in fact still linked to the sounds of II, dating back to two years earlier, Interlude Second anticipated by a few months the publication of III that, in my opinion, is the highest point reached so far by Monolithe (higher, even if in terms of nuances, even the excellent IV). Opened by the revisiting of the theme Also Sprach Zarathustra, the two EPs follow each other highlighting the peculiarities of a difficult sound, often obsessive in its insistence on a few chords but damn effective, at least for those who appreciate these sounds. Undoubtedly the lion’s share is a terrifying song as Harmony Of Null Matter, which originally appeared in the second EP divided into two parts, a true monument to incommunicability and authentic test of nine to which submit those who consider themselves a fan of funeral words. Note also the presence in the tracklist of the successful cover of Edges, a song taken from a monumental album as Lead And Aether of Skepticism, a band that certainly has provided more than one inspiration to Sylvain Bégot and members, as they can now boast a stylistic figure of their own. Obviously, this work does not add anything to the status achieved by Monolithe but, in addition to being a useful indicator of how much the sound of ours has evolved over time, is a good opportunity to take their two ep in one go. Moreover, almost at the same time, Debemur Morti publishes also the remastered edition of Monolithe II: here, let no one dream of talking about commercial operations in relation to bands that play funeral doom, I could laugh until risking to die.

2014 – Debemur Morti Productions