Epsilon Aurigae

Man, for a band that is called Monolithe and kind of/sort of plays funeral doom, this is some incredibly active music, and some good active music at that.

A simple enough description is easy: a drummer that keeps things somewhat mid tempo, but plays some sort of fill at least every 5 seconds, bass that is quite audible and often noodly, synths that don't dominate but are everpresent, and guitars that quickly switch between compact leads, legitimate riffs, and play some chords when the synths go on a particularly loud trip. A bit like Ea, perhaps, but less aimless with it's songwriting, or maybe a brighter, more accessible Esoteric. In terms of busy-ness and general maximalist, this is practically prog, everything climbing over the top of each other at once, like a bunch of snakes having an orgy.

The result is an odd kind of.. riff heavy ambient. Currently replaying my way through Skyrim and I find myself having this as background music, occasionally pausing the game for a particularly interesting section- Everlasting Sentry's long big build before the classical break, TMA's filthy opening riff, the 30 odd killer parts in the opening track, etc etc- before drifting back off into the game. I figure this is both a compliment and a drawback for Monolithe; it's good in that it shows that there are a lot of very good ideas crammed into the tunes, but at the same time, it points to very samey dynamics, to songwriting that tends to make things blend together. It's very rare I say this about funeral doom type bands but Monolithe could arguably back things off quite a lot and get a fair bit better as a result. A change to speedier or slower tempos once in a while certainly wouldn't hurt.

All up, it's hard to rate this; Monolithe throw a lot at the wall and most of it tends to stick, but on the other hand, this isn't a soundtrack- an album that is hard to pay attention to throughout its' running time is not exactly a positive thing. Certainly, anyone who's into funeral doom has heard far worse; worth a look.