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Monarch - Omens



7.8 | 9 votes |
Release date: 28 February 2012
Style: Drone doom metal

Owners:

10 have it
2 want it


01. Blood Seeress
02. Transylvanian Incantations
03. Black Becomes The Sun

Found in 3 lists
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Comments

Comments: 13   Visited by: 61 users
16.03.2012 - 19:57
Rating: 7
BloodTears
ANA-thema
At first listen, this album is difficult to digest. Need more listens, but it isn't sounding great.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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16.03.2012 - 19:58
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by BloodTears on 16.03.2012 at 19:57

At first listen, this album is difficult to digest. Need more listens, but it isn't sounding great.

I was thinking of reviewing this actually. It's challenging stuff but the third track is (almost) uplifting. I quite like it.
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16.03.2012 - 20:01
Rating: 7
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Written by Guest on 16.03.2012 at 19:58

Written by BloodTears on 16.03.2012 at 19:57

At first listen, this album is difficult to digest. Need more listens, but it isn't sounding great.

I was thinking of reviewing this actually. It's challenging stuff but the third track is (almost) uplifting. I quite like it.


Yes, I plan on giving it more time. You should definitely review it, you're on a roll! Might be a little too "uneventful" for me though.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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16.03.2012 - 20:04
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Guest on 16.03.2012 at 19:58

Written by BloodTears on 16.03.2012 at 19:57

At first listen, this album is difficult to digest. Need more listens, but it isn't sounding great.

I was thinking of reviewing this actually. It's challenging stuff but the third track is (almost) uplifting. I quite like it.


don't forget, she's a proggy.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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16.03.2012 - 20:28
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Cute Hello Kitty worshipping girls should not sound like Emilie Bresson of Monarch, at least not in the preconceived world I live in. Monarch's Emilie sounds like a cute Hello Kitty girl on a bad acid trap. Totally fearful, psychotic and warped, so with a voice that cuts right through your soul. I envision a mutated creature with hellish red eyes. Her vocals are the perfect accompaniment to Monarch's extreme doom which often borders on drone. It's hellish, barbaric as in the sickest thoughts of Lovecraft. Not for the faint hearted. Even though 'Omens' clocks in at barely 36 minutes you're left with the feeling of having been mauled for hours. Luckily 'Omens' is of the quality we used to associate with Monarch and not like what they presented on last year's 'Sortilège' EP which sounded as a boring long intro. So, forget about that release as soon as possible and buy 'Omens' in order to undergo the true Monarch.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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16.03.2012 - 21:51
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 16.03.2012 at 20:28

Cute Hello Kitty worshipping girls should not sound like Emilie Bresson of Monarch, at least not in the preconceived world I live in. Monarch's Emilie sounds like a cute Hello Kitty girl on a bad acid trap. Totally fearful, psychotic and warped, so with a voice that cuts right through your soul. I envision a mutated creature with hellish red eyes. Her vocals are the perfect accompaniment to Monarch's extreme doom which often borders on drone. It's hellish, barbaric as in the sickest thoughts of Lovecraft. Not for the faint hearted. Even though 'Omens' clocks in at barely 36 minutes you're left with the feeling of having been mauled for hours. Luckily 'Omens' is of the quality we used to associate with Monarch and not like what they presented on last year's 'Sortilège' EP which sounded as a boring long intro. So, forget about that release as soon as possible and buy 'Omens' in order to undergo the true Monarch.

That doesn't sound like your words. Or is that your review for Lords of Metal?
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17.03.2012 - 14:13
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Guest on 16.03.2012 at 21:51

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 16.03.2012 at 20:28

Cute Hello Kitty worshipping girls should not sound like Emilie Bresson of Monarch, at least not in the preconceived world I live in. Monarch's Emilie sounds like a cute Hello Kitty girl on a bad acid trap. Totally fearful, psychotic and warped, so with a voice that cuts right through your soul. I envision a mutated creature with hellish red eyes. Her vocals are the perfect accompaniment to Monarch's extreme doom which often borders on drone. It's hellish, barbaric as in the sickest thoughts of Lovecraft. Not for the faint hearted. Even though 'Omens' clocks in at barely 36 minutes you're left with the feeling of having been mauled for hours. Luckily 'Omens' is of the quality we used to associate with Monarch and not like what they presented on last year's 'Sortilège' EP which sounded as a boring long intro. So, forget about that release as soon as possible and buy 'Omens' in order to undergo the true Monarch.

That doesn't sound like your words. Or is that your review for Lords of Metal?


And he's won himself a virtual peck on the cheeks.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
17.03.2012 - 14:14
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.03.2012 at 14:13


And he's won himself a virtual peck on the cheeks.

Oh Marcel
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17.03.2012 - 17:54
Rating: 7
BloodTears
ANA-thema
I was about to say he was possessed or something.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


My Instagram
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19.03.2012 - 01:22
IronAngel

My half-assed RYM review; just wanted to give people some idea what it's all about, since nobody had reviewed it:

"Drone metal can be tricky to pull off. In a genre where texture supersedes structure, it's easy to forgo all substance in favor of aesthetic. I daresay even the poster boys Sunn O))) have more shock value than artistic value. Fortunately, Monarch! stay a bit more on the musical side of the drone doom spectrum.

Monarch! trust in filthy fuzz to weave a malicious atmosphere. They're more than an exercise in drone techniques though, with pounding drums setting the pace for actual riffs and verses, delivered in manic shrieks. If you're looking for a quick reference point to what the band sounds like, Khanate is a good comparison. Haunting female vocals add a hook that's relatively easy to latch onto and create an eerie contrast with the shrill noise of the record.

The album consists of two long metal tracks and a softer drone interlude. There's no obvious progression here: the female vocals play a little larger role in the last track, but they're both massive bursts of violence and hate at a glacial pace. It's repetitive to an extent, but all the tracks actually move through diverse parts. The album is hardly original or ambitious, but it's executed very well. The band nails down the harsh drone metal aesthetic and manages to combine it with nice songwriting.

Omens is the first time I hear these guys, so I can't say if they've improved or not. I can say that it's an enthralling 36 minutes well worth sitting through multiple times, if you're at all into the ugly, the obscure and the uninviting in music. For fans of both ambient drone and extreme metal, it's a solid album to lose your mental health to.

Highlight: Black Becomes the Sun"

Gave it a 3,5/5.
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25.09.2012 - 21:52
Rating: 9
Draugen

When I first heard this album I did not know what to make of it, but now after a handful of playthroughs, it is really starting to grow on me. By being in the right mood and focusing entirely on the music by shutting everything else out, I am finally able to see and appreciate Omens in a different way.

It is a fairly short but intense experience filled with filthy droning soundscapes that are accompanied by tortured and truely haunting vocals. The build up of the last song is worth a special mention when you are lured into a false sense of security by the alluring voice in the first half after which it gets progressively more chaotic until finally all hell breaks loose. Good stuff.

I wish that the album would have lasted longer because letting myself get completely engulfed in the dense atmosphere it conveys really is something special.
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01.04.2016 - 00:16
Rating: 8
Daggon
Underpaid M.D.
I find hard to explain to non-metalheads why I enjoy so much this kind of music hahaha
Superb album, I listen to this quite often at night before sleeping.
----
"Les vers savent qu'ils n'ont pas d'ailes, c'est pour cela qu'ils se cachent sous terre"
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28.02.2022 - 12:43
Rating: 9
Draugen

Today is the 10th anniversary of this great album that I still occasionally revisit. Black Becomes the Sun remains my favorite Monarch song and leaves me with chills every time.
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