Monuments

Phronesis

Written by: PP on 25/11/2018 21:01:27

"Phronesis" is the third album by UK djent crew Monuments, who have slowly developed into a force to be reckoned with in that scene. Lately, UK metalcore has flourished and arguably overtaken the more derivative style preferred by their American counterparts, with groups like Heart Of A Coward, TesseracT, Hacktivist, and many others pushing the outer limits of the genre forward with innovative ways to deliver a crushingly heavy expression with inspiration from other styles. Monuments, in particular, utilize a varying degree of pop influence within their songs, resulting in a metalcore expression that's about a 70/30 mix between djent and pop.

Take "Mirror Image", for instance. Here's a song that openly flirts with subtle, Michael Jackson style pop melodies, but it does so gracefully and without disturbing the tightly compressed guitars. Similarly, "Stygian Blue" reaches deep into pop realms for its inspiration, but without straight too far away from its metal roots as to turn off the core-obsessed fan-base. The djenty guitars assure as much, but so do the guttural growls and throaty screams that play heavily on the clean/scream dynamic that we recall from mid-2000s post-hardcore scene.

"Ivory", the album highlight, demonstrates that dynamic in near-perfect fashion. Throaty screaming suddenly breaks into two-tone clean melodies in the middle of a line that leaves a memorable effect that offers just so much more depth than most of their cookie cutter colleagues. Coupled with the progressive undertones and djent-y guitars, there's plenty of rich detail on offer for the listeners that need something more than just a clean chorus from a band.

That said, "Phronesis" isn't exactly a unique album. The similarities to other djent and metalcore bands are too strong to dismiss entirely, despite the pop and post-hardcore twist they offer. So while hardcore fans of prog/djent will surely lap "Phronesis" up, it's hard to see it winning over new fans as it doesn't really break any new ground. It's a solid metalcore album, nothing more, nothing less.

Download: Ivory ,Vanta, Jukai, Mirror Image, Stygian Blue
For the fans of: Skyharbor, Periphery, The HAARP Machine, Heart Of A Coward, TesseracT
Listen: Facebook

Release date 05.10.2018
Century Media Records

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