pronounced "Mun-eeerk"

Return of the shitty camphone footage - yes, I know your lives have been empty without it. Saw/played with Monarch here in Dublin last night and in an attempt to appease my beloved who couldn't make it (and who's a big Monarch fan), I captured a segment of their set while precariously balance on a chair behind their merch table*. I'm a casual Monarch fan - I enjoy the records but don't listen to them regularly enough to tell you what they were actually playing last night, but they were thoroughly enjoyable and VERY VERY LOUD. My attention wandered toward the end due to a combination of tiredness and booze, but what I saw was intense enough to keep me focussed longer than a band playing a song whose minute legth goes into double figures normally would - something ony Corrupted and Khanate have done previously.


This is the thing with doom/sludge bands I've noticed over the years: there's a dilemma at play whereby this music generally makes more sense live owing to its' physical nature - bottom end and volume really only achieve the desired effect in a live setting where you're in front of a stack of amps. But the brutal truth is that a bunch of guys or girls playing barely changing chords over a prolonged space of time becomes very boring very quickly in the live environment most of the time. Even bands I like who do this kind of thing I generally find myself leaving the room for nowadays after a couple of minutes. obviously, years of seeing hardcore bands playing short sets has ruined my attention span for live shows by any band that stretch over 20 minutes, but that's not the only reason. As background music, or as headphone listening, I have all the time in the world for it if its' done well, but live not so much.

I tend to value movement (both literally and figuratively) in a live band, the sense their set is leading somewhere. Monarch nearly pulled that off for me, in that while the bedrock of their sound is that wall of guitar, the sheer force of the drumming (supplied on this trek by Ron from Yob/Dark Castle) and the unpredictable nature of Emily's manipulated vocals kept things progressing. They get, basically, that just standing there playing the same big hanging chords space far enough apart for the listener to grow a beard isn't really enough, so they employ one of the hardest hitting drummers I've seen in years to add extra power and accentuation - this means the guitars don't seem like they're just hanging there pointless churning out shite. Some will argue the effects on the vocals are a gimmick, but I couldn't disagree more. They're a guide through the dark maze the guitars create and offered plenty in the way of light and shade throughout. Sure, she can scream (and does so), but she also sings and vocalises in a less harsh manner, and manipulates and layers it in ways that can be dreamlike or terrifying as necessary. Haven't got a clue what the fuck she was on about, but the tone of her voice was a narrative tool all on its' own.

So yeah, Monarch, good live, didn't bore me to tears, handy with effects pedals, blah blah blah. It's Wolvserpent's turn to do the slow and low droney thing here this week opening for Wolves in the Throneroom in Whelans this Thursday night coming. Their more meditative approach could either be hypnotic and transfixing much like the way the records are if I listen to them in the right mindset, or they could just be boring as fuck. I'm hoping for the former. They better be good, because I'm missing a one time screening of "The Wicker Tree" at Horrorthon for them.