With every year comes new albums from bands that we enjoy, obviously, and I feel it’s safe to say that every one of us has got at least one album that we hear about and go “I need to check that out”. Yet, for one reason or another, it takes us forever to get around to it. This year Monolord was that band for me as their latest album was something that I got very excited for, yet after way too much delay, I finally experienced this piece in all of its stoner glory and it was well worth the wait!

I feel like Monolord has always been one of those bands that has a respectable presence in the doom metal scene, but they’ve yet to garner enough fame to really become widely known despite their obvious quality. It’s one of those tragics of metal, yet I feel like Monolord is slowly gaining the respect they rightfully deserve by continuously putting out incredibly respectable albums, and “Rust” is another brilliant example of such. Imagine all the things that make the amazing combination of stoner and doom metal great, make them as quality as you can make them, and then make the ensuing album extremely consistent and one that constantly delivers as it travels through peaks and valleys of tasteful heaviness that doesn’t disappoint. That’s “Rust” in the simplest terms. Monolord truly leaves no stone unturned with this effort and that makes it one of their most tantalizing pieces to date in terms of sheer quality as well as how fucking enjoyable it is simply because of how true it is to the genre and how it delivers all the fucking time. That’s a feat many bands fail at, but “Rust” makes it look like fucking child’s play. And if you’re expecting me to say that Monolord plays their doom real loose and dangerous, you’ll be a tad mistaken as Monolord plays their cards real close to their chest by keeping “Rust” by the books, and it easily works out in their favor in the end. Very few bands can boast something like that but Monolord accomplishes it splendidly.

I’m very glad that I sat down today to find something to listen to and suddenly went “fuck me sideways!” when Monolord crossed my mind. This album was more than well worth the wait, and “Rust” stands as one of those releases that’s sure to go down as one of the more exceptional releases that the genre has seen this whole year.

LISTEN to “Rust” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Monolord on Facebook here.

FOLLOW Monolord on Twitter: @MonolordSweden