Release Date: November 06th 2026. Record Label: Electric Witch Mountain Recordings. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
IV: The Monolith - Tracklist
1.Of Winter Dawn
2.The Other Space
3.Down the Hill
4.Traveler of a Fading Land
5.Horizon
6.Out of the Void
Members
Kamil Ziółkowski - Everything
Review
Mountain Of Misery return with their fourth full length album IV: The Monolith and it’s their most dynamic record yet that once again sets this as one of the premier “solo” acts currently working the scene today. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years then Mountain Of Misery Mountain Of is the band or creative project that is helmed by Kamil Ziółkowski from the mighty SPACESLUG.
There are many similarities between Mountain Of Misery and Spaceslug with this project happy to focus on a deeply engaging style of Heavy Psych, Shoegaze and Post-Rock dynamics. This time round Kamil is sometimes more focused by Post-Metal and Prog Metal sounds whilst keeping to that epic style of Post-Doom and Post-Stoner energy that ELDER and KING BUFFALO are known for. The vocal arrangements are striking once more with a grounded performance from Kamil that feels more mature compared to the previous Mountain Of Misery albums.
With a fractured Cosmic Doom environment that develops through the opening tracks Of Winter Dawn and The Other Space, this record is more direct and aggressively focused than ever before. The music has a similar tone to Spaceslug but Kamil keeps that haunting Shoegaze and Post-Doom superbly melodic with flashes of Sludge Rock bursting at the seams that almost break out to take complete control.
The lyrics and vocal arrangements are emotionally engaging without ever feeling out of place as IV: The Monolith becomes ever more aggressive and psychedelic sludge movements dictate how the rest of the album plays out. Kamil always manages to find new ways to add different soundscapes, trippy sound effects and gloomy Space Rock beats on tracks such as The Other Space, Down The Hill and Traveler Of A Fading Land
Some aspects of the album are quite urgent with a fast-paced delivery that I haven’t heard from Kamil under this project but it suits Mountain Of Misery down to the ground. This is a complete change of pace to Kamil’s other music project SEALESS that he released a stunning debut album earlier this year. Though, Mountain Of Misery remains my favourite individual project of his. As it captures all the sounds perfectly that I love to hear and explore from the Psych, Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal underground scene.
IV: The Monolith has an epic “dreamlike” atmosphere which does allow Kamil to explore some destructive Atmospheric Sludge Metal surroundings within the later stages on the record that’s mostly explored on Traveler Of A Fading Land and Horizon. There’s a lot of cool world-building and “cinematic” levels of music being created throughout with Kamil experimentation with different vocal tones, musical shifts and ambient passages which will leave you in a complete hypnotic trance.
The production side of the album is absolutely masterful with this putting some more well known musical artists to shame. The record sounds amazing with deep levels of pure heaviness dominating the speakers. There’s an unforgiving area of distortion that appears only when it’s needed that deserves to be heard by the loudest speakers possible.
Mountain Of Misery has exceeded all musical expectations once more for a record that makes them my favourite “solo instrumental” project currently within the underground scene. This is an essential album you need to own right now.
Words by Steve Howe
IV: The Monolith available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Electric Witch Mountain Recordings.
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