Mounties
www.thisismonuments.com
Transcontinental
metallers MONUMENTS have come a long way since starting as a side project
of John Browne (guitars; Fellsilent) and Josh Travis (guitars; The Tony
Danza Tapdance Extravaganza). From a surprise appearance on BBC Radio
1 to debut full-length, “Gnosis“”, the group immediately
found a fanatic audience. Praised for their brainy yet song-oriented approach
to heavy music, MONUMENTS bridged the progressive metal gap like few before.
On one side they challenged. “Gnosis“” was full of mind-bending,
betcha-can’t-play-this-type passages. On the other side, fans deeply
connected to hook- laden songs like “97% Static” and “Empty
Vessels”.
Fast
forward two productive years later and MONUMENTS – now with Chris
Barretto (ex-Periphery, Ever Forthright) on vocals – have grown
tremendously. While they’re still way into instrumental gymnastics
and impressing fans with their musical prowess, they’ve really honed
in on writing huge, impossibly memorable songs for new album, “The
Amanuensis”. Like bigger, badder, and even more epic-than- before
type stuff. If “97% Static” and “Empty Vessels”
stuck to the brain, new songs like “I, Creator”, “The
Alchemist”, and “Origin of Escape” hit the head, body,
and mind hard. “I really like the chorus of ‘The Alchemist’,”
guitarist John Browne smiles. “It’s really simplistic, but
I think that part will sound big and open when we play it live. I also
dig the ending of ‘I, The Destroyer’. I can’t really
focus on one part or song. All of the songs I’m happy with how they
all turned out.”
“The
Amanuensis” is a complete experience, actually. Even Browne’s
mom is impressed: “I know my mum will blast this out of her car
like she did with ‘Gnosis’. She loves groove.”
If
one thing’s certain about MONUMENTS and Browne in 2014 they’re
keen to move away from needless classification with “The Amanuensis”.
They’re specifically referring to their tenuous association with
the djent movement. “Music is music,” Browne says. “It
has the same 12 notes as any other music. The only difference is the way
it’s expressed, so we use pretty silly words to try and explain
the sound. The word ‘djent’ makes no sense whatsoever to describe
a genre. The tone that it references isn’t really utilized by many
bands that are classed as it. I feel progressive metal is a much better
reference to our music, with a huge dose of groove.”
“The
Amanuensis”, at least the title, was inspired by author David Mitchell’s
novel, “Cloud Atlas”. The complex story lines are the perfect
analog for MONUMENTS. Musically, the group weave in and out of themes,
motifs, and professor-like note calculations with graceful ease. But lyrically
“The Amanuensis” comes from a very different place. “The
album is about the Samsara cycle,” reveals Browne. “The cyclical
existence of life that we are all bound to. Chris has written an entire
story around the lyrics. Maybe that will see the light one day! It’s
the story of Samsara.”
Recorded
at Monnow Valley Studio (Black Sabbath, Rush, Led Zeppelin) in Wales,
Audiohammer Studios (The Black Dahlia Murder, The Contortionist) in Florida,
and Browne’s own studio Bear Noize Studio in England, “The
Amanuensis” is powerful and clear. A resolute sonic statement. But
the group’s sophomore album is also the most stripped down production
in MONUMENTS’ history. By design the drum triggers and studio trickery
are gone. “Metal has lost the ‘live’ element of production,”
Browne admits. “All bands sound too perfect. And albums aren’t
really a true representation of what the bands actually sound like in
a live setting. We wanted to give everyone what we actually sound like,
with us actually playing the instruments. The final result is great!”
With
a new vocalist – Browne calls Barretto “A musician. It’s
really easy to bounce ideas off of him.” – and a new album
in “The Amanuensis”, MONUMENTS are taking progressive metal
to the next level.
The
group’s ardent fanbase are sure to adore “Atlas”, “Garden
of Sankhara”, and massively cool “Quasimodo”. “Hopefully
they feel like they had the journey that was intended. It’s a pretty
relentless record, but with some huge vocal hooks. We’re hoping
this album will get stuck in peoples’ heads. It was a lot of fun
to write.”
MONUMENTS
are: John Browne (guitar), Olly Steele (guitar), Adam Swan (bass), Mike
Malyan (drums, samples), and Chris Barretto (vocals, saxophone). Expect
to witness the brilliance of MONUMENTS this summer and beyond as they
support their stunning new album, “The Amanuensis”.
Vitja
www.vapparel.bigcartel.com
Every
ending implies an infinite amount of power for a new start. When founding
VITJA from the ashes of former bands and periods of life, four highly
talented musicians smartly exploided this impulse to create something
bigger, more challenging and inimitable than everything they had done
before in their lives.
A clear vision and visualization of what the band stands for, highly persuading
live shows and an all-embracing, undefinable, erratic aura, bestowed Vitja
highest attention from day one. This attention may peak in the release
of their urgently anticipated debut album "Echoes" in December
2013.
Two
insinuating precursors for "Echos" have been discharged already:
The band's resounding single "Conversations" and their extolled
music video for "Sleeping in Snow", shot and edited by Ambitious.Films.
Having
toured with Martyr Defield and played such far-reaching festival appearances
such as Euroblast, Mair1 or Reload in 2013, VITJA tirelessly continue
to put countless miles on their van through unremitting touring.
Having
delivered a matchless studio performance after months of fully focused
songwriting, it was top producer Aljoscha Sieg who was chosen to take
charge of producing and mixing VITJA's debut album at Pitchback Studios
in Cologne. Both parties acknowledged that none of their previous musical
projects had even been slightly as acute and complex as creating this
album. "Echoes" turned out to be nothing less than a jaw-dropping
masterpiece of
heavy music on a technical and constructive level hardly ever before reached
by a European band.
With
"Echoes" VITJA created the first massive pillar of their very
own legacy. A legacy of intense and claiming music, recondite lyricism
and indestructible volition.
Tickets
gibt's exklusiv hier!
|