[Reviewed by Peter Marks]
Ever since re-emerging a few years back, Monolith have gone from strength to strength; this record was simply too good to let slip into the ether. I’ve been following him since he debuted this name back in 1997 and I have to say that ‘Falling Dreams’ easily rivals his legendary debut even though it sounds almost nothing like it. I suppose it is the intent and atmosphere which brings everything full circle for me: that undefinable yet constant feeling of paranoia, the ceaseless rhythms and precision sequences over which he runs amok with vicious loops.
Maybe you’ve not heard him before or have been blissfully ignorant of just how long he’s been at this, in 2018 you should up the ante and investigate what he’s done here. Long time listeners will find an ample amount going on, don’t have any doubts of that. Monolith are not among the big names out there in the underground but there’s no question what a long shadow he casts. Wondering about gravitas? He’s a former member of The Klinik as well as being involved with these projects: Absolute Body Control, Sonar and Insekt. Ah, has your memory been jogged now?
Eric V’s baby is the sneakiest tribal act out there, anyone I’ve played his work for cannot keep from responding on some level to what is going on in his work. His compositions are more controlled clinical experiments in mechanized synchronicity shoved up against a melange of moods which run deep into the past. Somehow this balancing act has now been going on for over twenty years and shows no signs of slowing, if anything, Monolith has become a master of tempering his designs; utilizing restraint to deliver even more aural disobedience, harnessing chaos in the service of imagination.
This is a musician who understands songwriting, operating in a field of sound where it is sorely lacking. I’d love to hear him collaborate with Black Lung, can you even imagine the result.
These beauties never make me look for the skip button nor do they devolve into trance-inducing inanity; you will encounter repetition but it is in service to the near-imperceptible adjustments constantly going on just a little bit off of the scope. There isn’t a single detail that escapes his notice, having now played through ‘Falling Dreams’ several times I feel as though I’ve only begun to unravel it. Further revelations are doubtlessly in store.
Monolith – Falling Dreams
Hands Productions, D261
Digital/CD 2018
Santa Sangre 