Talk about a band that is cursed with a terrible name. No, this is not some musical tribute to the young adult books glorifying the high school exploits of sparkly vampires. This is a black metal superband, and they just happened to release one of the best metal records of the year.
Twilight is made up of select members of the metal elite, either legendary from bands regarded as pioneers or groups that are enjoying the current spotlight. For those of you taking notes, those members are:
Sanford Parker – Enjoying a new level of fame for his production techniques and synthesizer work, and also known for his participation in the bands Buried at Sea and Minsk (guitars, synths, production)
Blake Judd – Judd’s band Nachtmystium was hailed (by more than a few) as the second coming of U.S. Black Metal in 2008 (guitar, bass, and vocals)
Aaron Turner – Created a name for himself as the singer/guitarist/lyricist for the band Isis, and quite the painter I might add (guitar and vocals)
N. Imperial – Groundbreaking U.S. black metal vocalist most famous for the his work with Krieg (vocals and bass)
Wrest – Of the one-man project Leviathan (drums, guitar, bass, synthesizer and E-bow)
Stavros Giannopolous – The guitarist for Atlas Moth, who has been getting quite a bit of press lately (guitars)
Robert Lowe – Of Lichens (provides clean vocals)
I bet you’re thinking: “Enough namedropping! How is the album??”
Well I’ll tell you. “Monument to Time End” is a great black metal album from front to back. From the second you hit the play button, you can tell that this isn’t your run of the mill, blast-n-tremolo black metal…this has rhythm…a beat to it. The album starts out with “The Cryptic Ascension” a track that starts with a slow tempo and a loosely played riff, lost amongst Parker’s space-rock synthesizer. The raspy black metal vocals are there, but just barely. They are buried in the mix…..until the gang vocals kick in…then they explode, just like the drums (which have been sparse thus far). Now the kick pedal is cracking, and the tempo picks up to the usual black metal frenzy, and the track blasts until completion, with Lowe’s haunting vocals intertwined throughout. The album as a whole is full of gems, placed when you least expect them, such as the dread-laden, death-crawling intro to “Fall Behind Eternity” (that leads into a total firestorm at 2:45), or the almost industrial menace that is “Red Fields”. The album may have (and I mean MAY have) faded towards the end, but as a whole, musically, this record is phenomenal. The musicians featured all know their place, and play magnificently, yet not to the point of audio masturbation. Simplicity is the key here. The silence is just as important as the concrete-heavy notes that are played. It creates an unnerving atmosphere, not knowing what’s coming next. But if you ask me, the band’s ace-in-the-hole would have to be N. Imperial. Sure, he may look like a chubby, aging, biker burnout, but he is armed with one of the most viscous black metal throats this author has ever heard.
All in all, “Monument to Time End” is an album recommended for fans of black metal who would like to see the genre pushed past its typical boundaries, into something much more meaningful and original, whilst not losing any of its intensity.
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