Conan - Monnos (2012)
British doom metal trio's new full length. I'm yet to hear the previous but it seems it was considerably slower. Makes sense as I had the good fortune of seeing this band live this year and for the first few minutes of their set, I had them pegged as a drone-doom, Sunn O))) worshipping band. "Sunn O))) with drums" is, I believe, what I referred to them as. How wrong I was though.
From that very first moment, 4 or 5 minutes in, when they picked up the pace and when slow, precise drone-doom became faster, more aggressive sludge - when the relative ambience was replaced by meaty, heavy, chunky riffing - the intensity of their live show quickly went off the chart. The same may not be
completely true of the record but the record is damn fine in its own right.
Theres every chance that Conan could become a bigger name in their field in the coming year or two and a upcoming support slot on the same bill as bands like
EyeHateGod,
Dopefight and
Ramesses certainly can't hurt. I would love to go to that one!