### Behold! The Monolith: Defender, redeemist

#### 15/03/12 || gk

Behold! The Monolith return in 2012 with their second album and follow up to their self titled debut from 2009. This trio from Los Angeles had a few good moments on their debut and that made me want to check out their new effort.

The album starts with a pointless intro which is doomy and melodic but sounds like a half formed idea for a song than a well thought out intro. Firs song proper “Halv King” is some straight ahead High on Fire worship with maybe a touch of Motörhead but it’s a pretty good song all the same particularly when the band adopt a mid paced groove through the middle of the song which is both heavy and catchy. “Desolizator” is another mid paced heavy song that owes a debt to the classic NWOBHM sound for its main riff but here it’s also all sludged out and battling for space with a thick and off kilter riff that reminds me of the Melvins. It shouldn’t work but somehow it does.

“Redeemist” is just over 11 minutes long and has three separate and distinct parts that the band manages to combine together very effectively. Starting with a slow and moody doom riff, the song takes its time to develop, but is well worth it as it moves to a classic heavy metal section that will have most people banging their heads in approval before a wonderful acoustic part rounds out one of the better songs on this album. The song boasts of a solid performance from the rhythm section but also shows that guitarist Matt Price is no slouch. “We are the Worm” is more straight up 80’s heavy metal given a sludged out tone while “Witch Hunt Supreme” has an intro that is uncomfortably close to High on Fire’s “Snakes for the Divine” and blurs the line between homage and plagiarism. “Cast on the Black/Lamentor/Guided by the Southern Cross” is by far the most adventurous song on this album. Stretching out to well over 13 minutes in length, what seemed initially like a medley of 3 different songs, works remarkably well as a tripped out metal song with doom, heavy and acoustic touches. For the first time on this album, Behold! The Monolith sounded like they had a distinct voice.

Like it should be evident by now, High on Fire feels like a major influence on the band. It could also be down to the album being produced by Billy Anderson and the resulting guitar tone is quite close to Matt Pike’s. Still that isn’t really a bad thing and “Defender, Redeemist” is not a bad album by any means. The trio work well together and are proficient in their instruments. Kevin McDade in particular has a nice, fat bass tone and often plays to add some depth to the music and bolster the guitars. However, the area of concern is the songwriting. Too many of the riffs sound like I’ve heard them before and the band has not been able to transcend their influences.

If you don’t like anything with the tag of stoner on it then stay away but if you like the whole stoner metal genre, then this might satisfy you for a while or at least until the new High on Fire drops.

- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Self released
- Website: Behold! The Monolith MySpace
- Band
- Kevin McDade: vocals, bass
- Matt Price: guitars
- Chase Manhattan: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Guardian’s Procession
- 02. Halv King
- 03. Desolizator
- 04. Redeemist
- 05. We Are the Worm
- 06. Witch Hunt Supreme
- 07. Cast on the Black/Lamentor/Guided by the Southern Cross
- 08. Bull Colossi