MONOLITHE
Black Hole District
(Hammerheart Records)
55:00min

French Doom veterans MONOLITHE celebrate over 20 years of existence with their tenth studio album, “Black Hole District”. Known for their ability to surprise, MONOLITHE continues to evolve, ensuring each album has its own character. This new record came out with a line-up having new faces, including singer Quentin Verdier, bassist Vincent Rémon and keyboardist Axel Hurard. The album features five intros, each clocking in at one minute, followed by five lengthy tracks that extend to ten minutes each. This 55-minute structure sets the stage for a deep dive into a dystopian narrative, reflecting bleak visions reminiscent of Blade Runner and various science fiction films. The opening instrumental sets that atmosphere to the coming track, ‘Sentience Amidst The Lights’, which begins with a heavy drum beat that transitions into a crushing, lava-like riff, establishing a slow yet powerful tempo. It takes over four minutes before the vocals emerge, adding to the tension and depth of the piece. One of the standout tracks, ‘On The Run To Nowhere’, features a melody that evokes memories of classic “Tales From The Thousand Lakes” by AMORPHIS. While “Black Hole District” is undeniably rich in texture, its length can be daunting and overall sound wise they are now far away from the total crushing doomy depth of the early days. They play an easily accessible mixture of Doom that is heavily melodic. All songs maintain this straightforward nature throughout the record length. In the permanent rotation, the work is increasingly losing its stimulus. And, due to a lack of variety and uniform structures, reflecting a complete depression that makes the hopelessly overwhelming vision of the future that is being drawn here at some point only heavily bearable. If that was the goal of MONOLITHE, then they reached it to 110%. Find out more about the band and label at www.facebook.com/monolithedoom or www.facebook.com/hammerheartrecords.

Randolph Whateley

Randolph Whateley

Related reviews / interviews:
MONOLITHE - Okta Khora (Thomas Meyer)
MONOLITHE - Nebula Septem (Miguel Negrón)

Leave a Reply