Mono from Japan are back with their 11th studio album, entitled Pilgrimage of the Soul. In a year when other established acts have dropped incredible new albums, the bar has been raised high. But then, Mono don’t usually make records that are anything less than incredible and here they are again, teamed up with Steve Albini, who did such a great job shaping their sound previously.
Once you know the explosive storm of rapid fire beats and screaming guitars drops with such massive fury, the soothing intro of ‘Riptide’ is only once enjoyed with calm. As a return track this music carries serious heft as Albini layers up the distortion over his trademark reverb-less drums. Locked into the pounding heavy groove, the track is as powerful as Mono have ever been. Bruised and battered from that opening bombastic track, the sweet electro loop of ‘Imperfect Things’ flickers like a firefly in the night sky. The solemn guitars leave trails like shooting stars and when Tamaki’s bass groove skanks into the mix it’s a weird and unexpected twist. A four to the floor disco beat pops and bops and you wonder why Mono haven’t delved into dancefloor territory before. This really works. Of course I might be a little creative there with my description, it’s not Donna Summer, but it’s as disco as this band is ever going to get. The soaring guitars and warm strings embellish the track to glorious effect, I think I would like to hear more of this please.
The one thing I notice about the quiet tones from the intro of ‘Heaven in a Wild Flower’ is how much squealing my ears have, from the battering the likes of band like Mono have given them over the years. With no percussion, it’s a sombre piece that becomes a little more hopeful with some lovely brass and gorgeous rising strings. Mono are covering a lot of ground here on the opening trilogy of tracks. ‘To See a World’ is a swirling mix of shimmering harmonics, twinkling glockenspiels and a cyclical loop of liquid guitars. Dahm’s pounding drums suggest the volume is about to increase and sure enough, when Tamaki’s massive bass tones grind into life the track becomes a pulsating and life affirming boomer of distorted guitars and swelling strings. Until it doesn’t, as the urge to go completely epic dissipates. Fair play for not sticking to the rule book here.
‘Innocence’ is a familiar Mono blueprint of big strings, delicately picked guitars and crashing drums. The repetitive motif tends to drag on for too long though, in my opinion. It’s like the middle eight of an epic song being wrung out for too long. With not much in the way of change in dynamic, my attention begins to wander for the first time. But then halfway through Takaakira and Hideki kick the BIG distortion pedals and the track kicks and fights with the rage of a dying animal. But the fight is over too soon and the track fizzles out with elongated drones.
‘The Auguries’ is another track that I find a little lacking in dynamic until it’s too late. The mainstay of the track is reached so swiftly, and it locks into a settle groove merely adding extra layers of guitar, more strings and thunderous drums. It’s been done many times before by Mono and whilst it is still spectacular and a mighty racket, I’ve been listening to other band’s albums this year that have really pushed the boundaries of what can be achieved. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by tracks like this.
‘Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand’ comes to life with searing drones and chimes. When the guitars join, you start to think you’ve heard this one before on a previous album. The shimmering guitar tones and epic sweeping strings used are very familiar. The melodies have that funereal and tragic melancholy that Mono do so well, but it feels like stagnation and the urge to crank up the volume and layer the distortion to punctuate the red zone on the mixing desk is this time given into. The staggering noise levels that end the track are truly spectacular and completely immersive. Then it’s just over to ‘And Eternity in an Hour’ to end the album with a quiet calm of piano and strings, soothing and warm, like a loving embrace.
As I alluded to already, some long standing favourite bands have really excelled themselves with their releases this year. Deafheaven, Low, Mogwai all breathed new zest into their sound with outstanding records. This has raised the bar of expectancy and for me, Mono have ultimately fallen short with this album. It’s by no means a bad record, far from it, Mono create excellent music, but I just feel that the moments where they try something different are so few it feels a little disappointing. There are some great tracks to add to an already mighty back catalogue and some of this music will be magical live, I have no doubt about that. Pilgrimage of the Soul is still a great album, it’s maybe just not a great Mono album.
