renkls Monolithe are a strange entity in the doom genre. From their very first album, suitably titled Monolithe I, they took a unique twist on the genre, uplifting and often 'beautiful' doom passages, which seems almost contradictory to place in the same sentence. This juxtaposition worked wonders however in presenting the birth of the universe.

Monolithe II was the album that most closely represents 'conventional' funeral doom, insofar as it was removed from the more uplifting aspects of the debut; a far colder and more alien environment. I feel this album is far more attuned to the coldness of space; planets crashing into each other, indifferent to the destruction of the potential inhabitants on board.

Monolithe III was another beast entirely, a far more progressively inclined composition; the riff salad of the first ten minutes is testament to that. This album feels far more like the human struggle with conceiving their surroundings, as well as the nature of the ever present 'Monolith'. Of course, this is just speculation on my behalf.

What then, is Monolithe IV? It represents the end of the Monolithe narrative, and in terms of what it sounds like, granted you are familiar with the trilogy beforehand, is an argumentation of their previous sounds combined. The doom feeling of IV is definitely closest in spirit to Monolithe II, but it is far less cold an album; instead of the bleakness of space, and the sparseness of instrumentation, IV is rich with textures and dynamic. Block heavy from the very start, it's fifteen minutes before we even get a hint of reprieve, and even then it is short lived. The theme feels most in tune with the end of the world; the final chapter.

There are new instruments and experiments to note of course. Monolithe aren't the kind of band to stay static, and here we have even female vocals as a counterpoint to the main vocalists gutturals. The music flows like a tidal wave, less the fragmented nature of III, much more smooth and consistent a journey. That's not to say that we're missing the essentials of Monolithe, a piano solo, the progressive dabbling and drum machine are still intact.

The new developments IV brings to the table become most notable past the half hour mark, namely a middle eastern tinged segment and a few more introspective moments amongst the heavy doom. The keyboards sit further back in the mix, but often intersect with the operatic female vocals, especially in the closing passages, as we are driven towards the inevitable close of the Monolithe saga. The atmosphere conjured up in IV is definitely the most oppressive of their albums, the return of bass instrumentation that was sorely lacking in III is very welcome; adding more dynamic weight, especially noticeable through headphone listening. The progressive elements that stood out strong in III now are intrinsically mixed into the much more presistant atmosphere.

While its predecessor was a difficult deviation from the previous full lengths with a dominating progressive element far aside from conventional funeral doom, jumping from passage to passage with little time spent on some quite fantastic micro-sections (that were also never revisited), IV returns to the core sound of earlier full lengths on the most part, a more consistent, almost dirge like journey. While not completely bereft of uplifting parts; namely those offered by the addition of female vocals and slightly toned back but still present melodic counters to the overwhelming doom - this is definitely the heaviest and most, dare I say, difficult to process album.

It's a distinctive release from Monolithe, and it solidifies their individual development as a band beyond the confines of the doom genre. Monolithe is best described as sounding monolithic here, but make no mistake, it is not as if this is a more static, unchanging display - but you must look much deeper then before to uncover what makes this album their most mature and refined work yet.

Here is a link to the album streaming online. http://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/monolithe-iv

Originally written for Rateyourmusic: http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/monolithe/monolithe_iv/

renkls There are albums that are difficult to review because of how you’ve been metered to expect them to be, compared to how they actually come out being. Monolithe’s third full length, fittingly titled “Monolithe III” concludes a trilogy of albums (each containing one fifty+ minute track) dealing with the birth of the universe. It’s been a long wait for this third installment to come down the line, but now that it’s here, I can honestly say this wasn’t what I was expecting. Monolithe’s previous albums, stand out as a form of uplifting funeral doom, slow and heavy, but enlightening and in a strange ethereal way, comforting. The second album contained a bit less diversity and more abrasiveness, making it a bit harder to digest, but still was an effective continuation of the Monolithe tale.

This third entry takes a surprisingly different route, but at its core retains the Monolithe sound. Rather then being dominantly funeral doom, there is a distinct focus on progressive metal tendencies, frequent riff changes, and a refusal to remain static. Whilst I’d not accuse the previous albums of being static, they functioned through the emphasis on repeated segments to achieve greater effect when revisited. Here the tendency is to progress through many stages, rather then dwell for more then a minute on any section.

It’s a surprising change of pace for Monolithe, but I for one, don’t find it too jarring. The problem does arise that some sections are not as inspired as others.

The speed of the music in the 52 minute track that makes up this album ensures that time flies past when listening, however what does strike me, even after the first listen, is that the transitions and segues between sections can come abruptly and the parts themselves do not add up to a completely seamless whole. This isn’t too problematic most of the time, but with the huge amount of sections on display, it’s easy to find yourself overwhelmed and feeling a bit lost in the spiraling and constantly evolving epic.

The lyrics are relatively sparse, even by Monolithe standards, but they are powerful and effective growls and rumbles, fitting in well, even with the progressive edge given to the music. While I don’t feel this is up to the same powerful level as the first album, it’s certainly an audacious and powerful offering despite flaws with transition and the likelihood of alienating the listener if they have a short attention span. A 52 minute song demands an attentive listen. I think four stars will suffice for this release.

While some fans of Monolithe’s previous albums may not like the more progressive and sometimes abstract nature of the music, for me it hasn’t proved too detrimental.

renkls This was probably the first funeral doom album I heard, and I'll admit, it took me a while to get into. I'm no stranger to slow paced music, but the heaviness, mixed with the fact I still had unprepared eardrums for the heavier side of music meant it took me a solid half year to fully appriechiate this work. But it was worth it, I'll admit. As a fifty two minute journey centered on the creation of the universe, it's ambitious, heavy and powerful. It could have been shorter, yes. But doom, let alone funeral doom, is all about the atmosphere, which this album holds in spades. I've learned that this is quite 'lite' funeral doom in that it deals with less grim concepts and has far more upbeat instrumentation in the form of piano, as well as variations in speed and structure that most doom is not gifted with. As a debut, if you don't mind slow, heavy and simple riffs - cased within a single song structure, and have the patience and time to let it surround and engulf you, then you may have found a fantastic album. If you're not patient, then it's not the album you'll want to hear, but give it a try regardless. You may be very surprised how good it is.

Wilytank After going through several classic funeral doom metal albums, it's sort of a new experience going back into the embrace of more fine production even though it was the avenue that I used to get into the genre in the first place. So why Monolithe? Well, let's just say that as a person who adores long songs, a 52 minute piece of funeral doom should be right up my alley.

As I start the music, I realize that there's even more. The first notes played are of a piano, but they are not sorrowful sounding like I'm used to experiencing in funeral doom. The music isn't dark at all even when the rest of the instruments come in. In fact, the atmosphere is light sounding! Though with the lyrics about being the origin of mankind, the atmosphere is kinda fitting. It feels as if I'm staring into a portal of infinite light in the middle of a wasteland. Kinda like what's on the album art. 'Monolithe I' is, for once, a funeral doom album that would be just as fitting if listened to during the daytime as it would in the nighttime if not MORE fitting!

There are plenty of variations to be had in the music. Though the tempo stays mostly the same with a steady drum beat, the keyboards play a large role on the "staring into a portal of infinite light" aspect of the music here. Time from time, one of the guitars takes a prominent position. There are even parts where the guitars tone themselves down to allow even calmer parts of the music to come in. Vocal wise, the standard low growls of funeral doom are present, but in the calmer parts of the music, there may be clear spoken word verses spoken. Actually, the musical pauses aren't limited to the guitars. At 18 minute mark, the drums stop and the guitars play some leading notes with the keyboard there to back them up. The guitars keep playing this rhythm as the rest of the instruments continue. At the 28:13 minute mark, the pace changes the most notably with the key changing a bit as well before returning to the same key and pace. As the thirty minute mark comes and goes, the guitars go into a faster chugging rhythm and build up this rhythm for about three minutes until lone piano notes break it up to return to the normal pace with lead notes. The chugging returns around the 38 mark, but with lead guitar to provide some layering. The lead continues when the chugging guitar returns to normal.

At the end of this journey into creation, I look back and see this wonderful funeral doom album by a promising funeral doom band. Its tone is rather unorthodox for the genre, but that's a good thing for funeral doom. If you're a fan of the genre and have 52 minutes to spare in your day, this album/song should be looked into.