Kev Rowland
It took four years from ‘The Amanensis’ for Monuments to return with their third full-length album, by which time they had not only lost the services of long-term drummer Mike Malyan, but also his replacement Anup Sastry, who on this album has put up an impressive display so newest member Daniel Lang will have a lot to do when they head out on tour. Although this is still a metalcore album, they are starting to concentrate even more on the metallic elements, which are incredibly brutal. This means that when there is a slight respite in proceedings, such as the introduction to “Mirror Image”, one knows that it is going to all come crashing back in a minute.
There is a huge contrast in styles both between songs and within songs, so that the listener is never really sure where the music is going to go, and strong melodic vocals may have mayhem beneath them, or simpler chords may have Barretto throwing up his lungs. One of the bands they have played with recently was Protest The Hero, and that must have been a match made in heaven. I have long been a fan of the Canadians, and it was wonderful that I finally managed to see them play about eighteen months ago, and the styles of the two bands are both complimentary and different, and both can really rip it up when the need arises. Monuments keep improving with each album, and it will be interesting to see what they come up with next time, and indeed if they can actually keep the same line-up together from one album to the next!