Monarch (in the U.S. often stylised Monarch!) was a French doom metal band from Bayonne, formed in 2002.

History

The band were formed in 2002 in Bayonne, France. In 2004, they released their debut, a double CD with three tracks. Since then the band continued to release albums, various EPs, singles and

splits A split (commonly referred to as splits or the splits) is a physical position in which the legs are in line with each other and extended in opposite directions. Splits are commonly performed in various athletic activities, including dance, figu ...

with Moss, the Grey Daturas and Elysiüm. Monarch have released with various labels, mainly with the Spanish Throne Records and have signed with US label At A Loss Recordings, which released their album ''Omens''. In the beginning of 2010, Monarch played alongside

Wolves in the Throne Room Wolves in the Throne Room is an American black metal band formed in 2002 in Olympia, Washington, by brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver. They have released seven full-length albums, two live albums, and one EP to date. They have stated one of the f ...

in Australia, and toured North America, Japan and Australia between 2010 and 2011.

Music

The band states doom metal and sludge metal bands like Noothgrush, Corrupted,

Burning Witch Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998. Aside from EPs and split releases, the band released a compilation album called '' Crippled Lucifer'', which had songs of their early EPs. Hi ...

and

The Melvins ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

as main influences, but emphasizes with the note "but mainly

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

" the special importance of the

classic metal Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed ...

band. Their 2010 album stresses this through its title, ''Sabbat Noir'', French for ''Black Sabbath''. Eduardo Rivadavia from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

sees their sound as similar to

drone metal Drone metal or drone doom is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal or experimental metal. Characteristics ...

like Khanate and

Rigor Sardonicous Rigor Sardonicous is an American doom metal band from Long Island, New York. Coined as "raw, apocalyptic doom", Rigor Sardonicous is one of the earliest American doom metal bands that are still active today among Novembers Doom and Evoken. Th ...

, but often harsher. British magazine ''

Rock-A-Rolla ''Rock-A-Rolla'' was a music magazine covering experimental, avant-garde, noise and metal artists pushing the boundaries of music. Launched in late 2005, it was published bi-monthly in the UK by V-Squared Publishing Limited and distributed worl ...

'' considers the band to be rooted in modern doom metal. Monarch have also shown appreciation and claim to be influenced by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone, and several

D-beat D-beat (also known as Discore, kängpunk, Discrust, and crust-beat) is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-be ...

bands such as Discharge,

Disclose Disclose were a Japanese punk rock band from Kōchi City, heavily influenced by Discharge. Their sound heavily replicates Discharge's style, with an increased use of fuzz and distortion guitar effects. The subject matter is also similar to Di ...

and Aghast; and covered songs by

Turbonegro Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian Rock music, rock band, active from 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. The band combines glam rock, punk rock, and hard rock into a self-described "deathpunk" musical style. History Earl ...

and Discharge, among others.

Concept

Since their founding the band's concept did not change drastically; guitarist Kaïdine described as follows: "The main idea was to play slow and loud as fuck. We were all playing in fast bands so we wanted to play something very different, something new and challenging for us." Monarch tracks are quite long, roundabout 20 minutes, and to date the longest is the song "Amplifire Death March", which is 58:27 minutes long and was released in 2006 as part of a split. The track length caused the band to release albums almost annually for a period.

Songwriting

Their songwriting is not systematic, leaving room for random events and improvisation. Bassist MicHell stated regarding the amps, "The raw material we work with emanates directly from our amps. ��In that sense there’s actually a physical dimension in our songwriting: seeing how the amps will respond differently according to how we position ourselves in front of them to achieve, for example, a more droning effect, or harsher feedback… So we can’t really write a song unless we’re in front of stacks of loud amps.” The guitarist and bassist use amplifiers by

Sovtek Sovtek is a brand of vacuum tube owned by Mike Matthews's New Sensor Corporation and manufactured in Saratov, Russia. They are often used in guitar amplification and include versions of the popular 12AX7, EL84, EL34, and 6L6 vacuum tubes. Many o ...

, Acoustic,

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

Hiwatt Hiwatt is a British company that manufactures amplifiers for electric guitars and electric basses. Starting in the late 1960s, together with Marshall and Vox, Hiwatt contributed to the sonic image popularly termed "British sound". History O ...

Sunn Sunn (stylized in all lowercase) amplifiers was a brand of musical instrument amplifiers based in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. History In early 1963, the Kingsmen, a band based in Portland, Oregon, became known for their hit version of ...

and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

plus

fuzzbox Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly ...

es. The singer uses

delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...

and

reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abs ...

pedals.

Reception

After the reissue of ''Mer Morte'', ''Lords Of Metal'' called the band a "deep black minimalistic, slow, humongous doom monster". ''Maelstrom'' called Monarch 2007 in a review of ''Dead Men Tell No Tales'' "soon-to-be doom titans", emphasizing the album to be a challenge for every doom metal fan, though "it's worth it, as Monarch! have some fantastic music". Reviewing the same album, ''

Heathen Harvest Heathen Harvest was an Internet blog devoted to music criticism, music news, and interviews. It focused on underground and post-industrial music, including ambient, heavy metal, gothic, and industrial music. The site, which was established in ...

'' states that it by no means bad, but calls Monarch a copycat of pioneering bands like Boris, Pelican,

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

and Khanate. German ''metal.de'' called the 2007 album ''Speak Of The Sea'' "meaningless drone tracks, which basic idea almost too obviously and thus bold was stolen from Khanate". ''Vampster'' was impressed 2010 by the album ''Sabbat Noir'' and Monarch's "undeviating path to dissolve any music into noise" and states that "neither

Switchblade A switchblade (aka switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, Stiletto, flick blade, or spring knife (Sprenger,Benson, Ragnar (1989). ''Switchblade: The Ace of Blades''. Paladin Press. pp. 1–14. . The sw ...

nor

Black Shape of Nexus Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

, Corrupted, Black Boned Angel, Nadja or Moss deliver more vehement antimusic than Monarch". Beside the band's extremism the reviewer recognized something new too: "This is what sludge is going to be, when one keeps moving along way outside drone doom, to try something different. ��The fact is neither drone nor doom can be more extreme without turning to pure noise. Monarch pay tribute to Black Sabbath also by making earth shaking music and in trying something new with a lot of courage and a portion of madness not to underrate ��.

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

called a New York concert in November 2010 "a focused, intense performance, utterly lacking the catharsis that's metal's usual stock-in-trade".

Members

;Current * Emilie "Eurogirl" Bresson – vocals * Shiran Kaïdine – guitar * MicHell Bidegain – bass * Boubi Sablon – drums * Stéphane Miollan – guitar ;Past * Felix Buff * Guillaume Lestage * Stephane Torre-Trueba * Robert Macmanus * Rob Shaffer

Discography

;Studio albums * ''

666 666 may refer to: * 666 (number) * 666 BC, a year * AD 666, a year * The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament Places * 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt * U.S. Route 666, an America ...

'' (2005) * '' Speak of the Sea'' (2006) * '' Die Tonight'' (2007) * '' Mer Morte'' (2008) * '' Sabbat Noir'' (2010) * ''

Omens An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient times, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages fr ...

'' (2012) * '' Sabbracadaver'' (2014) * ''Never Forever'' (2017) ;EPs * '' Swan Song'' (2006) * '' A Look at Tomorrow / Mass Destruction'' (2009) * '' Sortilège'' (2011) * '' Sacrifice Your Parents, Satan Wants You To'' (2015) ;Splits * '' Elysiüm / Monarch'' (2006) * '' Monarch / Moss'' (2007) * '' Dawn of the Catalyst'' (2007) * '' Birushanah / Monarch'' (2017) ;Compilations * '' Dead Men Tell No Tales'' (2007)

References

Labelwebsite on heathenskulls.com:
Monarch « Heathen Skulls
'', accessed March 2, 2011 Bandwebsite on myspace.com:
MONARCH!
', accessed March 2, 2011 allmusic.com:
Monarch! at AllMusic
', accessed March 2, 2011 Robyn Morrison: ''Make way for the Monarch procession'' In:
Sludge Factory
'', February 24, 2011; accessed March 2, 2011 ''Monarch'' Interview in: Rock-a-Rolla, No. 27, September 2010
rock-a-rolla.com » Online
; accessed March 2, 2011 Erik Heylen: Review on lordsofmetal.nl:
Lords Of Metal metal E-zine
'; accessed March 2, 2011 Review on maelstrom.nu:
Album Review MONARCH!-Dead Men Tell No Tales :: Maelstrom :: Issue No 54
''; accessed March 6, 2011 Review on hh.heathenhideout.com:
Heathen Harvest - Reviews: Monarch - Dead Men Tell No Tales (2CD)
''; accessed March 6, 2011 Review on metal.de:
Monarch (FR) - Speak Of The Sea - CD-Review bei metal.de
'; accessed March 6, 2011 Review on vampster.com:

'; accessed March 6, 2011 Concert review on blogs.villagevoice.com: Phil Freeman:
Live: Doom-Metal Crew Monarch Lead A Violent Ladies'-Night Spectacular At Cake Shop - New York Music - Sound of the City
'', November 15, 2010; accessed March 6, 2011

External links

* *Bipart video of a concert of Monarch on July 28, 2007 in Basetxe,

Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran ( eu, Trapagaran, es, Valle de Trápaga) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is located near Barakaldo, Portugalete and Ort ...

, Spain: :
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{{Authority control 2002 establishments in France Drone metal musical groups French doom metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2002 People from Bayonne Profound Lore Records artists Sludge metal musical groups