Release Date: May 29th 2026. Record Label: Relapse Records. Formats: CD/DD/Tape/Vinyl
Neverending - Tracklisting
1.Iodine
2.You Bastard
3.Inside a Collider
4.Crystal Bridge
5.Oozing Wound
6.The Masque
7.Invisible
8.It's Neverending
Members
Thomas Jäger - Guitar/Vocals
Esben Willems - Drums
Mika Häkka - Bass
Review
Doom/Stoner Metallers Monolord return with Neverending which is their first album in five years and their first new music since 2023’s EP It’s All The Same. This record sees Monolord go under a slight creative transformation which is perhaps down to the band working with legendary producer Sylvia Massy (TOOL, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, JOHNNY CASH and THE MELVINS). This record has a more reflective and personal feel that is quite different to the tone of their previous record.
The music is more up front relying on stylish Classic Rock and Heavy Metal surroundings than ever before and I love to hear Monolord further exploring their Seventies Hard Rock influences especially when they channel the likes of THIN LIZZY, BLACK SABBATH, BUDGIE and LED ZEPP unlike ever before. However, this is still a quintessentially a MONOLORD record through and through where the band continue to develop their trademark AMPLIFIER and DISTORTED heavy sound with a modern Psychedelic and Melodic energy coming through.
The opening batch of tracks of Iodine, You Bastard and Inside A Collider allows Monolord to explore their own musical legacy whilst stripping back certain elements for a modern Post-Doom and Post-Stoner sound with that huge sounding LOW & SLOW attitude which embraces wickedly sonic and spaced out themes with Esben’s drums leading the aggressive charge. Thomas on Guitars and Mika on Bass opening up the Doom Metal vortex for a world weary style of melody and highly precise musical focus to hold everything together.
Monolord allow themselves to move away from the Doom Metal landscape their contemporaries such as Electric Wizard, SLEEP and YOB usually reside and venture into musical grounds that KING BUFFALO and ELDER are known especially within the more slow paced and and psychedelic tracks that appear on the album. Monolord have been adapting and changing their music for the better ever since their 2017 acclaimed record RUST (which is still my favourite album of theirs). However, under Sylvia’s teachings and guidance, the band feel like they’ve been part of the Post-Stoner and Post-Doom scenes for a very long time.
Though, Monolord never forget what made them musical TITANS of the scene as they still play heavier, aggressive and fast-paced slabs of modern day Doom/Stoner Metal with that threatening style of AMPLIFIER DISTORTION on tracks such as Crystal Bridge, Oozing Wound and The Masque and Invisible. The second half of the album does see that classic THIN LIZZY vibe appear more and more with Thomas’s vocals being quite warm and superbly real. The heartwarming lyrics are emotionally charged and superbly uplifting with a real human quality appearing within the darkest moments of the album.
Neverending is a record that is never afraid to combine the trademark LOW & SLOW surroundings that Monolord first made themselves known with against a style of modern day Psychedelic Doom Metal energy that pushes the record further into other areas of the Psychedelic Metal scene that fans may not expect. There’s some wicked SONIC and SPACE ROCK experimentation spliced throughout the whole album that allows Neverending to be quite Spaced Out without the need for certain medicinal WEEDIAN compounds.
One of the most surprising aspects of the album appears on the final track It’s Neverending. This track features former Entombed bassist Jörgen Sandström, (also of Grave, Domedagen and Firespawn) which turns into the heaviest and most ferocious sounding track that MONOLORD have released to date. This was a great decision to let Jörgen appear as this track has a more desperate and violent DEATH CHARGED element which is my favourite track on the album. Monolord play perhaps their most classic sounding song that could easily appear on their first two albums.
It’s Neverending is an absolutely outstanding album that ranks as one of Monolord’s best. The album is a ton of mighty throwback elements you can instantly lose yourself in and continue to rock out like there’s no tomorrow. However, this is also perhaps Monolord’s most daring and modern sounding record to date. The POWER OF THE RIFF compels you once more to journey into Monolord’s brilliantly heavy, vast and unique musical world that stands as one of the best Doom/Stoner Metal records of the year.
Words by Steve Howe
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