Conan - Monnos Album Review
If you’re a fan of heavy music, you’ll love this. Think Neurosis, Electric Wizard, Isis, Om and Cult of Luna but soundtracked to oblivion.
rating: 3.5
Website: www.hailconan.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/conandoom Release date: 2nd April 2012 I dont think Im ever going to go to the North-West of England if the place looks as grim, bleak and wretched as Conan sound. The three-piece, who play some of the heaviest music Ive ever heard, hail from there you see. Way back in 2006, the band first formed as a two-piece but the hunt for a third member was elusive and careful, until the final line-up was solidified. Solidified like those castle walls in ancient battles that the bands music soundtracks so well. The three tortured souls who make up this hulking mass of sound are Jon Davis (guitar/vocals), Phil Coumbe (bass/vocals) and Paul ONeil (drums). Two previous releases have been created like some sort of bitter, bastard twins debut album Horseback Battle Hammer, and then a split with like-minded sludge-lords Slomatics. These releases have given the doom/sludge/drone fanatics glorious offerings slabs of desolate, bleak chords, with wailing, drawn-out vocals that form a sinister, haunting resonance and deliberate, agonized drumming that walks the shadowy corridors between the sound of the suffocating chords like a forgotten long-serving servant of a spiteful ruler. You could say that 2011 was the year that Conan really broke out of its chains. They played at the prestigious Damnation Festival and were met by a capacity crowd that were crushed by the bands stampeding, abyssal, chasm-creating sound and then the band went on to record this album in the remote wilderness of Foel Studio, Wales, re-surfacing from the woods with a forbidding conception of sound that hits you wave after wave. Its really no surprise that heavy music fans everywhere are finally starting to take note of what Conan bring to the table. Hawk As Weapon starts off with a hazy, precise, shrouded riff that trundles its way through the murk of the slow-paced drumming before finally allowing in the tormented vocals that I suppose a sacrificial offering would be soundtracked to. Its really hard not to bang your head to the desolate rhythm and this gives credit to the bands ability to maintain a tight-knit, structured sound behind the truly monstrous, severe heaviness that they thrive off. http://youtu.be/XPoIlknNd5o Golden Axe is an ambient affair with a gently morose guitar and a sombre drumbeat which really does make the listener think about lost times and lost ones. Its as humbling as it is excellently places in the album, and at just over half-way through the album, it makes for a respite from the pummelling sound the other tracks have in abundance. Even though its not a heavy track, its the hollowed out abyss of sound that really makes this a strong track. No distortion is needed, no vocals are needed, the track is what it is a worn-out, despondent track that shows you how gloomy music can be when it needs to be. Invincible Throne, the last track, ties things up well. It encompasses everything that can be heard on this album: thunderous, massive, desolate riffs; slow-paced, measured drumming; and long, wailed vocals that are anguished and tormented. A solid ending to the album, one which allows the effect of the other tracks to filter through and stick to the membranes. If youre a fan of heavy music, youll love this. Think Neurosis, Electric Wizard, Isis, Om and Cult of Luna but soundtracked to oblivion.