Being able to witness a band’s meteoric rise from the underground and then being signed to a big name label is pretty fun to witness if you’re anything like. Whether it’s from acts like Sojourner, 1914, or Full of Hell, it’s always gratifying to see some of the best acts that the underground has to offer be given the chances they deserve. Monolord definitely fit such a description by the time they released “Rust” two years ago, and now it’s with their debut on Relapse that we get a much more polished version of what’s always been awesome about Monolord without being nothing we can’t recognize.

It was as the singles were coming out one by one that I noticed many people criticize that Monolord sounds much more subdued in these new offerings and how that made them feel so very boring and so incredibly generic, but I disagree with that. I do agree that Monolord feels not quite as heavy as they have on past albums even though it’s not by a fuck of a lot, but there’s something excellent to what Monolord has crafted with it here for “No Comfort”. There are but six tracks from which this fourth effort from the modern heavyweights call their own but it’s across them all that we’ve got a very solid display of heaviness and restraint. It shows us that Monolord has learned to not only hone their excellent sound to an infectious heaviness but also showcasing us how they can pull back into a spectacle when we’re gifted with some excellence that really grabs ahold of you to never let go, and Monolord constantly delivers it in delicious quality that simply can’t be ignored with how fucking excellent it comes across. Pair all that with a respectable array of diversity such that “No Comfort” covers all the great bases that Monolord could’ve ever run across and to say it was handled spectacularly would be putting it mildly as Monolord has yet again put together a very good album that has plenty to go around for any person who ventures into it whether they be new to the name of Monolord or a longtime fan of the modern staple.

There are many who come to see big label debuts like this to be the sign that any given underground act will go into an unavoidable creative slump and simply suck from there on out, but, obviously, that’s far from the case and Monolord perfectly embodies the defiance of that foolish idea. “No Comfort” is anything but uncomfortable, and it’s one hell of a ride that’s as adventurous as it is wondrous in equal amounts to show us Monolord will continue to dish out brilliance.

“No Comfort” releases on September 20th via Relapse Records!

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