Mono0 is a compilation of two earlier EPs (2007 ‘s Interlude Premier and 2012 ‘s Interlude Second) from French doom/death/space drone act Monolithe. They add in a couple of short (for them) bonus tracks for the completeists too which is cool of them and pushes this well into the hour mark for four tracks; so that makes this a full length. Full on certainly.

We start off with ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ which I guess is about as appropriate as it gets for a spaceward looking doom/death band. It is a little disappointing though as frankly I get no sense of majesty from this version, no feeling of standing on the greatest threshold of all. Just a well played guitar based piece of music which is a shame as it should be a great scene setter.

Next up is ‘Monolithic Pillars ‘, a re-mastered version of the  track from Interlude Premiere. This twenty minute track begins rather up tempo and heavy, falling in to some harsh slow sludge repetition, torn vocals and death styling before the low mixed keyboards begin to tug it in a more spaced out direction. I just find it a little flat though. Technical and very good at that too but the atmosphere never encloses me and I marvel at the dexterity and construction, not lose myself in the music and never quite begin to travel with it.

We then get ‘Edges’ (again re-mastered but I’m unsure from what). A shorter bite at under seven minutes. There is a much more funeral doom feel here, keyboards and riff trudging in sombre harmony with rumbling growled vocals underpinning it. It’s not bad, suitably thoughtful and nicely done really, but perhaps a little out of place on this collection.

Finally we have ‘Harmony Of Null Matter’, re-mastered from the two sections of Interlude Second and stretching out for a long thirty six minutes. It starts quietly and gently builds on a repeated riff wrapped in keyboards. It’s one of those times when the audience really will split between those who lose themselves in the trance like deep space sounds and those who did it more of a blank passage of time. When vocals intrude they are curiously high in the mix when my brain had prepared me for something more integrated, pulling me even further out of my thoughts. When things become more complex with harsh and crowned by crashing drumming the effect is multiplied and I find myself pushed further and further away. It becomes tumultuous but for me at least impenetrable and lacking a direction of travel. A dense cloud of jagged features curiously disconnected but presented as a whole. Some people, I am sure, will be enthralled but whilst odd moments of brief keyboard melody try and entice it feels like a space-rock version of Neurosis but without the intense gravitational pull they exert. In short, for whatever reason I just never join this journey, more intersect with passages only to be pushed away by the body.

There’s no reason I shouldn’t like this, but in the end it leaves me unmoved. Abstract, faintly jazzy, spacey doom that leaves me in orbit as it travels on. I watch it leave, no doubt quite a few fans in tow, but I have to move on. Sorry, not a trip I catch.

(5/10 Gizmo)

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