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Behold! The Monolith. Where did these guys come from? Spin up this L.A. based stoner trio’s new CD, Defender, Redeemist for the first time and an immediately recognizable sound snakes out. It’s the signature Billy Anderson sound, the wildly busy enginn”ear” who crunched High on Fire and Sleep into digital ones and zeroes.

With Kevin McDade on vocals and bass, Chase Manhattan on drums (no bailout needed here) and Matt Price on guitars, the riffs are metric-ton heavy and the drums have a car-versus-light-pole intensity.


The vocals do what doper band vocals do, growl as if someone slipped vinegar into the bong.The bass is low and looser than Mama’s clothesline. The entire presentation is a classic genre interpretation with the proper amount of mud on the windshield.

“Guardian’s Procession” brings in the Hessians with a regal 1:36, as if only to plump up the pillow behind the listener for the next track. “Halv King” pummels, thrashes, occasionally simmers to take a breath, and then returns with a riff change-up. The solo is short and perfunctory, but this isn’t an album for Flying-Vee fanboys. “Desolizator” brings things down to a hazy chug, lets the growl break through, then dissolves into a Sabbath “Children of the Grave” interlude. We’ll call it an homage.

It flows nicely into the 11:06 sludge-fest of “Redeemist” whose first third uses thunderclap chords the way a zombie uses his legs. Slow, steady, unrelenting. It mixes dynamic open acoustic picking along with brutal slam-a-thon chord work that develops crafty second guitar harmonies as the arrangement progresses.

Along with starry breaks and surgically inserted high-hats “Redeemist” displays a woozy sophistication.

“We are the Worm” opens with that saber-dance riff we know so well, punctuated by doomy vocal door-slams, and then half way through stretches into reverb-soaked bravery that reveals the band’s ambition. With another, um, homage to High on Fire’s Snakes For The Divine, “Witch Hunt Supreme” gets an upper-rent do-over from the band’s freshman EP, complete with panned inserts and howls.

The album’s centerpiece, “Cast On The Black/Lamentor/Guided By The Southern Cross” is a sagacious 13:50 that feels half that long. It‘s an Amish quilt of doom-pound, atmospheric instrumentality, urgent stoner oeuvre, sneaky top-lines, and feedback. The final track, “Bull Colossi”, is the last sonic beating that provides enough time to let the listener drop a little Murine in the eyes. It’s no afterthought; it’s a reminder to put the CD player on repeat.

(released January 24, 2012)

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.