featured review #85: Mono - Requiem for Hell

[Zeus 7997]

 

| A case study on the effects of diminishing returns.

 

I don't have hopes for new MONO releases as much as I do expectations. I expect dynamic, instrumental post-rock passages with minimalist beginnings and too much going on at the end. It can be anywhere from six to nine tracks, possibly come with a theme about joy, sorrow, or both, and pack anywhere from zero to two instrumentals which edge the listener for six minutes with no pay off. While this describes the entirety of their output since the band "broadened" their musical tastes with 2004's Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined, this should not eclipse their accomplishments. MONO only does one style well, but their brand of post-rock has influenced countless other bands and has become the face of the genre, so to speak. Unfortunately, unwavering steadfastness is not a quality I admire in music.

 

It's strange to see a band once heralded for their mastery of a genre slowly see the life strangled out of them by those same guidelines. Even bands that "don't ever change" do change in minute ways over the years. MONO is the most extreme example of a band that has not progressed since 2004, content to sail the same seas evermore. Nine albums later, you could be forgiven for asking if they know any other way. But it's a sad fact of life that the emotional crescendos and cathartic blasts of noise that punctuated Hymn to the Immortal Wind are the same ones powering Requiem for Hell; such an unabashed clone that calling them cousins of one another still doesn't cover all the similarities.

 

Knowing when to stick to your guns is different from knowing when to bring in different artillery. A year hiatus designed to help them grow as musicians has only pushed them into a corner where all of their songs are cut from the same cloth and fabric is running low. MONO have regressed far enough to call in veteran producer Steve Albini, who was behind their masterpiece Hymn to the Immortal Wind, and as such they reintroduce the crutch of an orchestra, but even this power play is no substitute for captivating melodies. I can tap my foot and know when the strings will cut in, when the song moves into second gear, and when the emotional catharsis is supposed to strike. What should be an emotional experience translates into crossing requirements off a list.

 

I fooled myself into believing that Requiem for Hell would be different and was angry when presented with more of the same. I bargained with my computer screen for just one track to start loud and heavy, or for a dramatic switch in direction and tone, and was deftly ignored. Cue the strums of the closer "The Last Scene", I've accepted the facade of depth behind the beauty and luster. For all the big talk behind the concept of this album, it fails to communicate this theme in a meaningful capacity. It doesn't even sound particularly dark for MONO; it's just more of the same.

 

When they get moving, the meat of each song is intense as it always has been. The rising action and apex of "Death in Rebirth" and "Requiem for Hell" are truly stunning pieces, interjecting noise and guitar distortion for some much needed contrast. "Requiem for Hell" reaches almost "Com(?)" levels of despair, the most captivating track on the release by far. MONO still has the chops to write engaging music, but they insist on twelve minutes of foreplay first. When I can go to any younger band with tighter songs and more focus, hit the climax and get satisfaction in half the time, MONO has to provide a compelling reason to carve out forty minutes for yet another interchangeable experience.

 

They don't.

 

 

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[Original Saku 1593]

Great review as always @Zeusbut damn.. i hate your opinion so much right now XD As someone who absolutely loves everything mono has ever done and who's love of the band has only increased with each release throughout the years, I'm so saddened to hear that you don't feel the same. Requiem for Hell is probably one of the most satisfying albums I've heard this year and damn do I feel that 5/10 rating is way too low for something objectively so solid... safe? sure. but solid nonetheless. I can only feel that you let your distaste with your own expectations dictate your final score.

 

I still love your review and writing style though, I wish I could articulate my musical opinion as well as you do

[Zeus 7997]

38 minutes ago, Original Saku said:

Great review as always @Zeusbut damn.. i hate your opinion so much right now XD As someone who absolutely loves everything mono has ever done and who's love of the band has only increased with each release throughout the years, I'm so saddened to hear that you don't feel the same. Requiem for Hell is probably one of the most satisfying albums I've heard this year and damn do I feel that 5/10 rating is way too low for something objectively so solid... safe? sure. but solid nonetheless. I can only feel that you let your distaste with your own expectations dictate your final score.

 

I still love your review and writing style though, I wish I could articulate my musical opinion as well as you do

I'd have to say my affair with MONO has been the opposite over the years.

 

Their largest issue is trying to follow up Hymn to the Immortal Wind with a release that's more or less the same. They need to try something different but of the same caliber. Hymn is their magnum opus and I don't believe they will be able to best that with the same style. What kills me is that they feel like they only have one song and several different variations on it. I can't think of a single song within the last five albums hat doesn't start with minimalist guitar strums, minutes of agonizing build-up, dynamics foreplay, and an explosive emotional climax before a rather hasty ending. It's literally the same thing over and over and over again and the luster has long since faded. There are other ways to build post-rock songs and MONO need to learn that and adapt it into their music. Post rock is one of the genres with the most degrees of freedom and MONO uses none of it.

 

Reading other reviews of this album on the internet I am not alone in my sentiments. Sadly, positive reception to this album is in the minority.
 

[CAT5 9075]

I'm not even a huge mono fan, as I've only heard some of their recent material, but even with that, I can really get behind the sentiment of your review. There just isn't anything here that stops me in my tracks, let alone anything that I find particularly memorable. Certainly a disappointment for me following their previous two EPs.

[The Reverend 3566]

I like the new album but agree it's just more of the same Mono.

 

It's like they've mastered their specific form of art and rather than do something different just double down on it with each album. I can imagine someone new to Mono really loving this album.... but I don't find it particularly necessary even if I'd say it's good.

 

14 hours ago, Zeus said:

 

Knowing when to stick to your guns is different from knowing when to bring in different artillery.

 

 

 

Great turn of phrase there Zeus. Well-crafted review.

[Ito 2438]

Glad to know I'm not the only one that felt this way. This release just felt wholly underwhelming. I honestly thought that Death in Reverse as a standalone functioned single worked better than this entire album. Requiem for Hell (the song) just felt so entirely long winded and I'm not sure the riff they build off of in the climax is even all that great. That said, I would love if they piled on more distortion so that the song felt more heavy than it actually does. I just felt like they were trying to capture this whole swirling in to chaos vibe and the overall sound just wasn't dense or chaotic enough.  ( would have loved for them to pull some of the energy from the closing track off of Rays of Darkness.

 

Ely's Heartbeat and The Last Scene are both overall very pretty songs, and I honestly enjoy them, but they are rather forgettable.

 

I 100% agree with your statement that Mono's formula has grown stale. I don't think anyone can dispute that they can still create very pretty music, but we want it to be interesting as well. I can see myself spinning this track as background music from time to time, but that is probably it.

 

 

[emmny 4139]

this shit sucks bro, post-rock is stale as fuck and mono are doing nothing of worth in the genre.

would i still go see them live and buy merch and shit? duh, its still pretty music but pretty music on its own has no substance--other than prettiness, of course

i hold mono to high standards given their old output, but i dont think its magic they can replicate now, considering the contextual difference. old mono was just after the peak of most rock in the early 2000's, and followed up until its eventual popularity in the late 2000's, and since then monoisms have been done to death. it wasn't special at the time, but it was really good for what it was.

Edited October 24, 2016 by emmny

[Bear 1817]

I don't have a problem with Mono doing more of the same to be honest, and I think the album is fantastic. In most ways they don't bring much new to the genre and you've heard Mono do things like this many times by now, but at the same time I feel like the album does differ from e.g Hymn to the Immortal Wind in that it's a lot darker and way more intense IMO, and therefore reminds me a lot more about their two first full-lenghts than anything after (with the exception of Rays of Darkness of course).

 

But when you do it as well as Mono I see no need to change anything at all, and I am happy they have't changed too much.

[Original Saku 1593]

2 hours ago, Bear said:

I don't have a problem with Mono doing more of the same to be honest, and I think the album is fantastic. In most ways they don't bring much new to the genre and you've heard Mono do things like this many times by now, but at the same time I feel like the album does differ from e.g Hymn to the Immortal Wind in that it's a lot darker and way more intense IMO, and therefore reminds me a lot more about their two first full-lenghts than anything after (with the exception of Rays of Darkness of course).

 

But when you do it as well as Mono I see no need to change anything at all, and I am happy they have't changed too much.

 

Pretty much my thoughts. I kinda dislike the idea of people thinking they need to change... like why? I'm totally content with this amazing sound they have mastered, the thought of them trying to change their sound just makes me nervous beyond belief  

[Bear 1817]

I can understand that people want a band to do something different/add new elements to their music when they do the same thing over and over and they feel like they don't manage to keep the quality up. I'm like that myself too, but not in the case of Mono.

[Zeus 7997]

Usually, I would be in that boat too. But I find Mono wanting to change their approach more than their style. Even if they stay firmly in post-rock, there's a lot more they can do. I liked the addition of the orchestral elements but they've never truly leveraged traditional instruments in their music. "Traditional" would likely translate into a few Japanese instruments but they can appropriate instruments from all over the world if they wanted to. Even having one post-rock song with ethnic influence would bring a ton of diversity to their sound by adding just one instrument. Dynamics are a key part of their sound but a ton of their songs follow the same rising action / climax / resolution pattern. I would love for them to condense their sound into shorter songs like "Kanata", to hit us with another fake out like "The Flames Beyond the Cold Mountain", to start loud and heavy and slow down into a crawl (no song examples at all), or to have different movements and musical motifs repeat within a song and to evolve through them (my favorite MONO track "Com(?)"). There's a lot that can be done and a lot to play around with and even if the results aren't good I'd give them props for trying. But it's been 17 years since their inception and as you said, it brings back memories of their earliest releases. I would give them credit for going back to their roots...if they had gone anywhere. I get the impression they slapped an orchestra over One More Step... and called it a day and that would have worked for me in 2009 but not in 2016.