If we study the cover art of the new Conan album and read
the title, we are suggested ideas of massiveness; great, lumbering giants. One
could never blame Conan of false advertising here, as contained in its mere
40-minute runtime there are some of the fattest, thickest, most devastatingly
heavy riffs you’re ever likely to hear in your life. These three Liverpudlians
are here to take the crown, don’t be mistaken, as Monnos is an absolute
hulk of an album. Stoner/doom is rarely this good, but apparently this is more
than just regular stoner/doom. This is “caveman battle doom”, a term that
somehow accurately describes the atmosphere of Conan’s music. Conan is only a
very new band, having been conceived in 2006, and this being their first
full-length album.
The first thing that you’ll notice is the guitar tone. Holy
shit! you’ll say to yourself, that’s fucking heavy. The guitar is just so lush
and bass-laden that it alternates between chords with incredible smoothness,
creating grooves that naturally course through your spine, forcing you to nod
your head. It’s just such a deliciously huge sound, like massive weight coming
down from above, and so damn well-produced, too. The vocals are almost always
wielded dually; soaring, droning harmonies that add a slight element of
post-metal to the sound, reminiscent of Baroness or Isis, but less progressive,
more stylistically focused. The first half of the album slugs it out with lazy
mid-paced stoner riffage and on the final three songs of the album things slow
right down, each song like an impossibly huge titan slowly rearing its
unbelievable carcass into sight. Golden Axe in the middle is quiet – a
moment of peace between battles. Headless Hunter hits slow, but eventually
culminates in the most colossally epic stoner dirge you can imagine. Invisible
Throne slows down even more, ending the album on a point nothing short of
drone metal, and one of such monstrous gravity at that. But Monoss is
not hard to listen to. Its grooves are too powerful and its guitar tones feel
too damn good, and when you’ve been hypnotized by the singing your body
involuntarily enters a state of trance-like lull.
What I’ve been meaning to say here is that this is a total
no-brainer for anyone who likes heavy, slow music, and this will be the gateway
for a large younger generation of metalheads to begin their newfound love for
that which lumbers. Monoss is a perfect of example of why 2012 is going
to be such a great year in metal – music that really raises the standards of
quality and extremity. ABSOLUTELY LEGENDARY. I want more.
In short: Conan conjure up the imagery of epic battles and
gargantuan beasts, and it just happens to be the heaviest fucking thing you’ve
heard in quite a while, doomed ones. Lap it up.
Standout tracks: All are incredible
Score: 9.5
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