Over the past couple of years, I’ve written a bit about the Gothenburg, Sweden-based doom metal trio Monolord, and as you may recall, the band, which is comprised of founding members Thomas Jäger and Essen Willems with Mika Häkki can trace their origins back to 2013 when its founding members started the band as a side project that gave them the opportunity to play much heavier and darker material away from their then-primary gig as members of boogie rock outfit Marulk. Häkki, who was best known for stints in The Don Darlings and Rotten Sound was recruited to flesh out the band’s sound and complete their lineup — and as the story goes, while the band was writing and recording their critically applauded debut Empress Riding, they discovered that they had a special creative chemistry that necessitated making the project more of a full-time gig. Interestingly, the band’s full-length debut marked the first time that Jäger had taken up vocal duties.
Building upon the buzz of their debut, the Swedish doom metal band released 2015’s critically applauded sophomore album, Vænir, which they followed up with the “Lord of Suffering”/”Die in a Haze” 10 inch single, and their third, full-length album, last year’s Rust found the band aiming at writing material with “a heavy grove that contains both bombastic overkill and a lot of dynamics,” as the band’s Esben Willems said in press notes. In fact, album title track “Rust,” which featured guest spots from Mondo Drag‘s John Gamino on keys and Beastmaker’s Trevor Church, who contributes a guitar solo towards the end further cemented the trio’s reputation for crafting slow-burning and sludgy dirges that walk a tightrope between shoegazer-like atmospherics and krautrock-like grooves.
The members of Monolord will be embarking on month long Stateside tour to support Rust that begins with a set this weekend at the Psycho Las Vegas Festival, and includes a September 10, 2018 stop at Saint Vitus Bar and to celebrate the the occasion, the Swedish doom metal trio released a massive, low-frequency and viscous and sludgy cover of Black Sabbath’s “Fairies Wear Boots” that clocks in at over 12 minutes long, featuring some impressive guitar pyrotechnics in one of the most unique takes on Black Sabbath that I’ve heard in some time.
