Let’s get your week off to a good start. We like to touch on how much we miss The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza quite a lot here, as they

9 years ago

Monasteries

Let’s get your week off to a good start. We like to touch on how much we miss The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza quite a lot here, as they were fast becoming one of the most important names in progressive/maniacally technical deathcore. Now that they ain’t about, I feel it is partly my duty to help you fill the hole left by their demise, hence, I give you Monasteries. This English band have just released their debut and it is perfect for a day when you miss the crazy string sweeps and jarring drops that Danza loved to throw on us.

Monasteries aren’t a Danza cover band, let me make that clear. On their debut The Empty Black, they utilize a lot of the elements that made up the trademark maelstrom of the band, sure, but they break from that structure just as well; they go as far as bringing things down to a slam speed and feel in breakdowns on “Dreadwaste”. This track has some of the most astute use of electronics, sitting barely underneath the thick layer of grooves and mechanical cymbal hits. Overdubbed clean guitars and the insane pitch shifting, whammy bending guitar spikes highlight exactly how a multi guitar approach should be used effectively.

There are more brutal death elements in “Flatline”, a track that has the unassuming swagger of a track from Devourment, before sliding into a moment of pure Deftones inspired math rock. These are the reasons why I haven’t stopped devouring this band’s debut. The dread that Ion Dissonance could conjure up with polyrhythms is equalled here by the insertion of perfectly placed, cold, quiet spaces between sections. When a chug or breakdown swings into full effect, like the cocky groove that bellows from the middle section of “Fawkes”, you’ll probably crack a smile at an extreme metal band throwing in a 70’s blues groove riff between blasts and bass drops. You should. This is good fucking fun and it’s heavy as shit too.

You can get The Empty Black for free at Monasteries’ Bandcamp. You’d be silly not to.

-MM

Matt MacLennan

Published 9 years ago