Release:
Hammerheart Records 15.11.2024
Info:
Parisian Progressive Doom Metal outfit MONOLITHE returns with "Black Hole District", a tech noir styled story!
Album concept: "Black Hole District" is a story in a Tech-Noir style, inspired by Blade Runner, but also Dark City, Matrix, Ghost in The Shell, as well as “hard boiled” literature. The narrator lives in a decaying city, in a dystopian future. The moon has left its orbit and is coming dangerously close to Earth, causing increasingly violent cataclysms (earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.). Humans now live at night because it is too hot during daytime. This narrator is disturbed by recurring dreams in which a woman with long black hair speaks to him. However, he doesn’t remember who she is. He decides to investigate to find her. He ends up reaching a forbidden part of the city, called "Black Hole District". He enters a building which is actually an android factory. He then realizes that the faces of the inert and aligned androids being manufactured, are all the same... And identical to his own. His break-in causes an alarm during which he, through the confusion, sees the woman of his dreams among the employees. He flees and tries to leave the city, pursued by a militia charged with “removing” him; Because androids that have become “sentient” and can think for themselves are considered defective and dangerous. As he reaches the city limits, he gets fatally shot. At the same time, the city begins to disintegrate, due to the Moon’s increasing proximity.
The Music: "Black Hole District" is part of the band’s evolutionary logic since their beginnings: progression in continuity. If MONOLITHE’s musical style remains identifiable, new influences and musical desires enrich each new album. This is the case with BHD, which drew on the aesthetics of the 1970s and 1980s, especially in terms of synthesizers, in particular with the use of the famous CS-80 synth popularized by Vangelis, and the appeal of soundtracks of science fiction films. The album is also designed as a movie would be, with a scenario, an atmosphere, a central character whose train of thoughts is provided to the listener through narrations in a "hard boiled" detective style. Eager to offer original music, MONOLITHE does not hesitate to break the rules of its primary genre, Doom Metal, while preserving its substantial marrow and roots.
Tracklist:
01. They Wake Up at Dusk 02. Sentience Amidst the Lights 03. Elusive Whispers 04. To Wander the Labyrinth 05. Suspicion 06. Unveiling the Illusion 07. Benefit or Hazard 08. On the Run to Nowhere 09. Moonfall 10. Those Moments Lost in Time
Line-up:
Album / Recording Frédéric Gervais - Vocals (clean) Quentin Verdier - Vocals (growls) & Guitar Sylvain Bégot - Guitar & Keyboards Benoît Blin - Guitar Olivier Defives - Bass Thibault Faucher - Drums
Live Quentin Verdier - Vocals (all) & Guitar Sylvain Bégot - Guitar Benoît Blin - Guitar Axel Hurard - Keyboards Vincent Rémon - Bass Thibault Faucher - Drums |