MonstrO

Description

Their self-titled debut album for Vagrant Records twists and turns through a psychedelic hard rock haze that s as hypnotic as it is heavy. That heady combination is embodied on "Stallone" which glides from a guttural stomp into a resounding refrain, while "Concertina" rises and falls with a dark elegance, and album closer "April" blasts off on the fumes of a final ethereal hum. Four individual sonic personalities converge to make this music. There s bassist Kyle Sanders [ex-Bloodsimple], drummer Bevan Davies [ex-Bloodsimple, Danzig], guitarist Juan Montoya [ex-Torche], and vocalist and guitarist Charlie Suarez, and they re ready to take flight. MonstrO came to life in early 2009. Post-Bloodsimple, Sanders had been itching to start a new band. He ran into Montoya at Torche s final gig during The Melvins-hosted All Tomorrow s Parties, and the two discussed jamming back in Atlanta. They linked up with Davies behind the kit and began playing for three or four hours at a time. The trio immediately started generating song ideas, but it wasn t until Montoya contacted Suarez in 2010 that Monstro was truly born. The band members shared a desire to start fresh, and their collective fire had been lit. On the self-titled debut, MonstrO sets a precedent of thier own. Without any regard for the zeitgeist s whims, the band entered an Atlanta studio with Alice In Chains vocalist William Duvall in the producer s seat and, over the course of 14 days in 2011, they recorded the entire album. They wanted to end up with a sound that reminded them of their heroes without blatant imitation. What they arrived at was so much bigger. The quartet conjured a style that draws upon everything from `60s psychedelica to shoegaze to heavy metal.