Monobrow - Bennington Triangle Blues

MONOBROW - Bennington Triangle Blues
2012
Indie

Bennington Triangle is an area in Vermont where a handful of unrelated people mysteriously disappeared over the years, eventually earning the area the nickname "Triangle of Doom". I'm not sure how it relates to Ottawa's Monobrow, but the story is pretty cool and I see it a perfect fit for a voiceless stoner band.

Bennington Triangle Blues is Monobrow's second full length album. Monobrow continues its journey where it left off with the self-titled first record: they present us with a mixture of stoner, retro and modern rock, classic doom, and blues, all certified 100% instrumental. This is delicious to my ears, but I recommend taking your time to devour it.

At some point, I was convinced they came out of a music academy, and I was surprise to learn that they are self-taught. There is a great dose of technicality behind their music, but it never becomes dry. Monobrow has this ability to bring the listener behind their instrument and trip with them, like bluesmen. While certain parts are focussed on one specific instrument, the music in general feels organic as if everything was composed by the 3 guys jamming together.

The mood of Monobrow is very distinct. This is a very lucid kind of stoner music, with a lot of light and a happy vibe that reminds me of Cave In.

If I am to do a breakdown of the songs, I'd say that "Starships, Holodecks and Chicken Soup" starts the album by displaying Monobrow's ability to play with riffs, bringing the listener somewhere it was not prepared to go. This is followed by "This is Herman Nelson", a good song where the band controls various levels of volume and tension. "Store High in Transit / Communing with the Infinite" didn't catch my attention at first, mostly because it is situated between two excellent songs, but after a few listen I can't ignore anymore its trippy-doomy feel. "Grommet" is the ultimate Doom anchor of the album. Tasty, very tasty. After a slow and surprisingly dark song, we see the light returns under the shape of "Mordrake's Revenge", a swing song that will catch everyone's attention live. When I heard the song "City of Angles", I surprised myselft headbanging and thinking for myself "Wow, this is how I like my Black Sabbath". This left turn leads us to "The Radio In Between...", a '70s prog rock track (think Rush) that exemplifies the work of Paul "Yogi" Granger and the Meatlocker Studio, who helped recording the album. Kudos also to Mike Bond for making this album stands out. Back to the track list, the album finishes with "Bennington Triangle Blues", an over 12-minutes song that resume the whole album and dig further into each of the directions explored earlier.

If this music is your cup of tea, you'll be served a pot. As I write these lines, Bennington Triangle Blues is being pressed on vinyl, as all music should be.

Check it out here: monobrowmanband.bandcamp.com/