Monograf - Occultation - review
Monograf - Occultation - review
Tracklist
01. The Prophet02. Cripplegate
03. Ashes
04. Carrion Seller
05. Occultation
A review by
musclassia November 26, 2025
The earliest recording adorned with the Monograf name, their 2011 Demo, wasn’t even originally crafted with that name in mind, instead being released in a more primitive iteration under the moniker Tiny Bits Of Heart. That was the name that founder Erik Sannes Aanonsen conceived for the project, before it ultimately grew into a full-fledged band by 2013. Compared with the acoustic folk of that demo, debut album Nadir was an expansive post-/folk rock record, featuring plenty of violin and nyckelharpa, although with an occasional tendency to get a bit heavier. In the six years since, the Norwegian group’s sound has grown heavier, as on Occultation they are now very much in metal territory.
It might be a surprising evolution, at least until one hears that Aanonsen was/is in Antestor (other reviews refer to him as an ex-member, although I’ve not found any mention of his departure). It is interesting that this album came so soon after Mothers by Drowned In Silver, a record from musicians with a background in extreme metal that is comparably understated in its dark atmosphere. While Occultation is by no means extreme or overwhelming, it is a substantial jump in intensity and heaviness from Nadir, yet thankfully it is not one that has been accompanied by any loss of identity or uniqueness on the band’s part.
The album’s sound brings together post-metal with progressive rock and Norwegian folk, all brought together with an expansive vision by Aanonsen, who incorporates epic scope shaped by a degree in film scoring. Opening track “The Prophet” crafts a rich atmosphere early on with brooding chords and tom-heavy percussion, before kicking into a lumbering riff just before the minute mark. The vocals in this song, and across most of the album, are a stark departure from the previous album in that they take a mostly harsh approach, with distant shrieks howling across the soundscape. The song is, as expected for the genre, very dynamic, with several lulls and ebbs in its flow, during which the violin is given plenty of chance to shine. A mid-song folksy proggy interlude takes my mind to the softer side of classic Opeth, a comparison that came to mind more than once when listening to Occultation, and the violin works very well in tandem with first clean and then distorted guitar as the track rebuilds its heaviness and intensity.
The vocals aren’t exclusively extreme across the album, and indeed album centrepiece “Ashes” eschews metal altogether, instead offering a glimpse back to those early folk days with dainty acoustic guitar, strings and clean singing, although the clanging percussion in its final minutes bring an unexpected noisiness. Additionally, this being a post-metal band, there’s larges stretches without vocals of any form; both “Cripplegate” and “Carrion Seller” are light on vocals. The former features quite a bit of clean proggy instrumentation, once again offering a soft Opethian vibe in between a lot of elaborate shifts in heaviness. The synths from guest musician Ingvill Trydal are frequently quite prominent on this song, and along with violin (and I think cello in one brief snippet) offer a lot of diversity in sound. The violin perhaps has the standout moment of this song, a really lush melody around the 6-minute mark that goes great with the crunching distortion that kicks in with it for the track’s climactic moments.
“Carrion Seller” is on the heavier side, chopping between riffs in its opening few minutes with plenty of rasps to go with, but the track shines in its second half; a brief lull around 3 minutes in is the foundation on which a multi-minute instrumental-only sequence is built, with lots of escalation in heaviness, only to be pulled back, only to build again, and trading off leading roles for different instruments. Aanonsen produced Occultation, and his skills really come to the fore in this section, as the way the mix grows and swells until it is truly huge in the closing minutes is really effective, setting the stage for the harsh vocals to kick back in for one last hurrah after several minutes away.
Monograf featured a 15-minute song on their first official release, namely the title track of the 2016 EP Horde (which also featured on Nadir). They don’t get quite so ambitious this time around, but the 12-minute closing title track is still a significant endeavour. It’s one that perhaps cuts in and out a bit too much, but its various slick proggy rhythms are consistently enjoyable, as are some very satisfying lumbering riffs. The track is most noteworthy in two places for me. First, clean vocals get an outing on a metal song for once, popping up in the verses, but it is the shouted semi-melodic vocals in the track’s chorus that are particularly memorable courtesy of their melodic hook. My favourite portion of the song, however, comes near the end, when Monograf decide upon a really strong riff to ride for the final few minutes, ensnaring listeners in a really compelling and intense atmosphere that is sustained even when the distorted instrumentation fades out and hands over to the violin, synths and clean guitar.
The extent of the jump between full-length albums one and two leaves one curious about where Monograf may go next; they could certainly go quite a bit heavier still, but I feel like they would probably lose quite a lot of their unique charm in the process. Occultation lurks in a very enjoyable sweet spot between a few genres that allows it to access a few contrasting emotions at once, and it would be fascinating to see the band further explore the possibilities that this fusion opens up.
Written on 26.11.2025 by
Written on 26.11.2025 by
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 Posts: 6658 |
Posts: 6658
Great review, it brought this band to my attention when otherwise I would've likely missed out on it. This is such a surprisingly great release, I can't believe how overlooked it is. It's a very interesting blend of folk, post-metal, and doom with a wide variety of instruments and elements, and it kinda has a mysteriously unique atmosphere. The style seems to have it's own originality and identity which I like.
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Posts: 212  |
Posts: 212
Great stuff! Remarkable how the band achieves such atmosphere. And kudos to the album cover that looks exactly how the album sounds !
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 Posts: 64432 |
Posts: 64432
Wow rare case musclasia itroduced me whit awesome album. Reminds me a little but of Hexvessel.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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 Posts: 9624 |
Posts: 9624
Feels like a pretty neat way to make post-rock heavier that isn't just making the guitars more metallic.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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 Posts: 8252 |
Posts: 8252
Nothing to add to the review or to the comments above me. Just a big thank you for introducing me to one of my favourite albums of this year.
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