MONARCH! – The Heavy Blog is Heavy Interview

Scott Murphy
News
Writing a standout doom metal album is a difficult task nowadays. This isn't due to an overall lack of quality within the genre's modern progenitors, but because of the antithesis; more and more excellent doom metal albums seem to enter the running for our year ends lists with each passing year. MONARCH! (Monarch from here on out) has never struggled with this  endeavor over the course of their 15-year career, particularly when it comes to their recent output with the eminent Profound Lore Records. Yet, while Sabbracadaver was certainly a doom highlight in 2014, Never Forever sees the band returning this year with their most colossal and grandiose album to date, presenting a masterful synthesis of drone metal with doom's more macabre characteristics. We sat down with the band to discuss the process of writing their latest epic, as well as a handful of other topics related to their past, present and future within the shifting landscape of modern doom. 

Sannhet – So Numb

Ryan Castrati
Reviews
There's a great deal of irony in the latest album title of instrumental post-metal trio Sannhet. While their new album is called So Numb, it would seem that this is the most evocative song writing we've seen from the group to date. The emotions that this album can rouse from slumber deep within the listener are not just your simple "ooh's" and "ahh's" that come along with music that catch and impress the ear, but rather ones of blinding ecstasy and immobilizing sorrow. In crafting this collection of songs, Sannhet have taken the approach of the painter. The group uses every drum hit, bass plunk and guitar strum to paint a picture with textures and colors that are just as interesting and thought out as the work they comprise the entirety of.