CONAN — Monnos (review)

CONAN — Monnos album cover Album · 2012 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Metal as weapon...

Genre: sludge doom

Ah yes, slow and heavy music. There is just something hauntingly compelling about the genre of doom metal which makes it so unique in comparison to other metal genres. And, no matter how different doom bands might sound, they typically have in common crushing heaviness and a focus on other emotions than aggression.

Take for instance Conan's debut album Monnos which is a lesson in crushingly heavy grooves and the power of simplicity. Conan are often classified as a stoner doom band, but I would not want to get stoned while listening to their music – that would probably just lead to an angst-driven and paranoia-centred bad trip. The thing is that Conan, whose music is more on the sludgy side, have embraced a near-minimalistic style which brings about images of desolation and barrenness. While not super slow, the tracks on the album are definitely very heavy, and driven by simple and crushing riffs – some of which make use of drone notes and many of which are based on stomping grooves which, due to the simplicity itself, are extremely powerful.

Their music is so heavy that even uptempo passages, as in the case of 'Battle in the Swamp' come across doom-laden and oppressive. This owes in part to the nature of the riffage itself and in part to the insanely bottom-rich and fuzzy sound of the downtuned guitars – just check the intros of 'Headless Hunter' and 'Invisible Throne' which consist of of droning power chords heavy enough to suck the entire solar system into an all destructive black hole of suicidal depression.

The drumming is considerably organic and dynamic, which I quite like, and the vocals range from sludge-oriented harshness to a more chanting style. I would probably prefer a more elaborate and powerful singing style, but then again, the vocals used on the album do fit the barrenness of the music very well. The lyrical universe seems to evolve around epic battles in various desolate and barren, and of course swampy, fantasy landscapes (likely to be inspired by 70s and 80s fantasy movies, literature, and computer games [the instrumental 'Golden Axe' is likely to be named after a classic 80s fantasy archade game]), and, it is definitely interesting to hear such lyrics performed in non-operatic vocals in a non-epic doom metal style.

Fans of crushingly heavy music, such as stoner doom, sludge doom and the like, should definitely give Conan's Monnos a listen. Its heavy and simple riffage has all the stuff that makes for good sludge doom.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Warthur wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Between the cover art, the band name, the fact it's doom metal and Time Sig's expert opinion I'm very keen to get this now.
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Love the cover artwork. I´d like to see it in vinyl format.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Die for Us Technical Death Metal
WEREWOLVES
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

OPETH`S Epic Headline Show at Bloodstock 2024 | YouTube Premiere | Full Set | August 9th, 2024
OPETH
666sharon666· 9 hours ago
Opeth '§4' Visualizer/Lyrics Video
OPETH
666sharon666· 9 hours ago
Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed