“Hold your breath for spirits to bring you to life.”
Monuments. The self-attributed ‘transatlantic bounce’ group, forged from the ashes of djent pioneers Fellsilent in the late-2000s, have been floating about for a little over a decade-and-a-half now. Their output has been known to be methodically slow, having only just now reached their fourth studio album with In Stasis, despite their long tenure as a group, though the fault is not entirely their own. Since their last studio album, Phronesis, was released in 2018, they have since lost iconic and long-standing vocalist Chris Barretto. Shortly after Barretto’s departure, however, the group announced YouTube sensation Andy Cizek, known previously for his covers, as well as his work with Termina and Makari, would be filling in on vocals effective immediately. The rest, they say, is history. Cizek, being the vocal powerhouse he is, became a permanent member shortly thereafter, and work on new material began.
Interim singles “Animus” and “Deadnest” showcased Monuments’ intent on being productive, producing two intensely diverse singles to tide fans over until a full project with Cizek was completed. Of course, following the release of “Deadnest”, tenured guitarist Olly Steele also announced his departure, leaving John Browne as the sole guitarist of the group henceforth. Filling the role of sole guitarist in a band like Monuments is no small task, especially given the complex, riffy and highly emphasised nature of their guitar work. Browne, however, has handled this with seeming grace, as the guitar work across all of In Stasis is flat-out superb. Percussive and bounce-laden, with enough string-skipping glory to keep you equally impressed and stank-facing – Browne’s work here is no joke. I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
Opening track “No One Will Teach You” (featuring early Monuments vocalist Neema Askari) kicks In Stasis off in true metal fashion: a monstrously heavy banger to set the the dirtiest tone and mood. Swirling, chromatic riffs open the album, as Cizek makes his first appearance with a laboured scream atop some seriously fun drum work from Mike Malyan. Briefly reeling in the heaviness, the track ushers in its first verse with Cizek singing staccato through what sounds like a vocoder, giving his voice this floaty and robotic feel. Of course, after some melodic building, the track follows into its percussive and driving chorus. Askari’s vocal feature follows, with enough grit and aggression to leave any sane listener with an involuntary stank face. The track’s real crowning glory, however, is its extended breakdown in its closing minute or so. Spaced-out, djenty chugs and riffs give the track’s closing moments a sense of suspension in between moments of pure obliterating groove. A masterfully executed opening track, and one of the strongest tracks across the record, “No One Will Teach You” is a fantastic introduction to the world of In Stasis.
Following tracks “Lavos” and “Cardinal Red” follow suit strongly, with some intense riffing, but a heightened emphasis on melodicism. The main selling point of these tracks (as well as later track “False Providence”), however, is the production work of famed Doom composer, Mick Gordon. Gordon’s influence and work on these tracks seems to be fairly limited to the synthwork, strings and ambient soundscapes. His touch here is undeniably though, with some gorgeous compositional work in those areas truly elevating these tracks at times. This goes especially so for “False Providence”, whose grandiose strings provide one of the most entrancing sections throughout the entirety of In Stasis through its chorus. To play devil’s advocate, however, there are certainly moments across these tracks where I feel that pulling back and leaving some space to breathe in the sonic landscape would’ve lended to some heightened emphasis on the tracks’ chunkier moments, whereas sometimes the impact does get a tad muddied and lost here, especially on “Lavos”.
“Opiate” and “Collapse” immediately rectify this issue, however. With some of the most percussive and downright djenty instrumental work across the whole album, these tracks provide what are easily the heaviest moments on the record. The latter of the two tracks especially leans into the heavy edge more than I’ve heard from Monuments in quite some time, with Cizek tapping into his deathcore side with some seriously gnarly guttural growls. In fact, “Collapse” just so impactful that it may be my favourite track across this whole thing. Aggressive; punishing; keenly melodic; and, mostly importantly, ridiculously fun – this track represents all of what I love about Monuments’ sound.
While I won’t dig into each and every track in detail, the remainder of the record contains some more immense highlights. Both the bass work from Adam Swan, and the superb vocal feature from Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo (echoing his feature on the band’s debut full-length, Gnosis, in 2012) make “Arch Essence” an absolute hit. Further, closing track “The Cimmerian” draws In Stasis to a close in truly epic fashion, with an eight-minute prog banger whose experience is as dynamic and encapsulating as can be.
With In Stasis, Monuments have risen up yet again in the face of adversity, and dropped another barnburner collection of some of the strongest djent and metalcore the music world has to offer right now. The addition of powerhouse vocalist Andy Cizek certainly does them favours, with his range in any and all styles of vocal being seldom matched, though Monuments shine through on In Stasis the way they always have: absolutely killer instrumental work. Some of the bounciest and riffiest prog on the market, all wrapped together into a package that feels oddly digestible for as complex as it is. Something about In Stasis, much like the remainder of Monuments’ back catalogue, just works, and given just how consistent this band have been across their career, that’s no coincidence.
9/10
In Stasis will be available via Century Media this Friday, April 15th, and you can pre-order the album here.