A Heavy-Handed Fuzztone Psych-Garage Rock Record from Monotonic
- R.A.G.
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
A new release from Monotonic, recently dropped, and this record does an amazing job of just blending loads of fuzz tone sonic drive with this semi-90s pop and alternative tonality so that you have elements of garage and more, all pulled together so that it breeds a huge atmosphere that feels like it's a little familiar but also all its own.
The album features all kinds of experimental and almost psychedelically tripped-out production, swells, punkish undertones, and plenty of rambunctious approach and performance.
The album is called Heavy Metal, and it doesn't waste a lot of time getting straight to the point with its first track, "Super Montgolfier Brothers", which definitely introduces you to some of the psychedelic rock tone you'll hear throughout the rest of the release.
That 90s beat is overrun by walls of electric sound coupled with delayed vocals that flow through the song's course.
This is a fun and extremely colorful track, and album, for that matter.
It definitely has loads of flavorful guitar work all over it, and again, the tone of those instruments is really what makes this record so fuzzy and garage laced.
There's even a great lead guitar section in the track, and throughout it all, you have this sort of flowing soundscape.
Now, other tracks deliver more of a thrashy indie or punk style like "Lazers At Dawn", but even tracks like this one have a massive reverb effect, making them feel distant and still a bit trippy.
You get some awesome riffs throughout this record, especially on this track; the whole thing feeds into an in-room experience. What I mean by that is it feels like they recorded it all at once. The whole band, in one room, feeding off each other and delivering something alive.
When you listen to this record, you immediately want to go see them perform the entire thing. They have a very strange way of putting you in the moment with the songs.
It's almost like you're in that same space with them. This especially happens once you get a few songs into the record.
It's a massive escape. This whole thing is escapism at its best. These guys are a jam band. They jam these tracks out and take the energy levels to such great places that it is infectious.
The title track, "Heavy Metal", provides such a ride. It's like this cinematic musical journey coated in fuzzy distortion with a semi-progressive songwriting approach that remains catchy; the whole thing never loses its pop sensibility.
Some might consider this to be more of a noise rock record. I think it blends that with progressive and classic rock, punk, grunge, and even shoegaze.
The psych-rock elements come more from the production trickery, especially with all the vocals having a delay effect and overlapping things, expanding across half the song.
It's just sort of carefree and again, a bit wild feeling.
It's definitely different, and built without the boundaries you would normally hear, but I think that's half of its point.
The whole thing was brilliantly woven together and definitely gives you so much sonic frequency that it's almost impossible to turn away from.
If you listen to the entire record from start to finish, in one shot, you really find yourself engulfed by it all.
The tonality of this entire album wraps itself around you. It's very unique, but again, they take these classic garage tones and lean them into other styles. The record branches out and bends these fuzzing garage rock genres with the psychedelic and the indie.
You can tell it was all really well thrown out, but there are moments in the record that just feel improvised. This is also part of why I mentioned earlier that it feels like a record that was recorded live.
The recording is great. It's in the studio, it just feels like everyone was right there doing it at once.
I mean, I wasn't there, so I'm not sure. It just feels that way. And it feels good. Again, that energy infects you, and it's incredibly fun to swim through these sonically unique and almost invasive soundscapes.
So, it's time to listen to the record. If you haven't put it on yet, then do so now because you're in for a bit of a good time.
This is a certain kind of high energy, tripped out, fuzz tone rock that isn't pigeon-holed to just one genre, then this is for you.
Turn this up because it's the best way to listen.
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