Hardcore/Sludge/Metalcore band from USA [Richmond, Virginia]
Tracklist:
01. On Cinders
02. Bars & Graveyards
03. Simulacra
04. Apparition
05. Harlot
06. Controller
07. Gnashing of Teeth
08. Last Song
09. Lay With Me
10. Elizabeth Anne
Raising roofs up and pushing wigs back since their inception in the Christmas season of 2002, Monarch bangs out their own kind of southern metal in Richmond, VA. They follow in the steps of some of their heroes: Pantera, Converge, Carcass, Down, and of course the hardcore punk of their hometown music scene. Richmond itself is one of the main inspirations for these four lifetime musicians. Having walked the same roads traveled by the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe, singer and lyricist Dan Mills writes "I'm chasing Poe down Grace street, I'm coming home to the cemetery. Virginia my dying bride, I lay to rest..." Dan joined the band in early 2004 after initial singer Shaun Watts left the band, and Monarch now can't even remember what the band was like without his guttural, cathartic vocals that suit them so well.
The rhythm section is filled out by drummer Joel Hollister and bassist Jason Taylor. Joel's energetic and creative percussion brings to mind such modern masters as Chris Pennie and Ben Koeller, and his contribution to songwriting is invaluable. To call Jason Taylor just a bass player is to do the man an incredible disservice. Jason always serves the song, to be sure, but his playing alternates from a classic bass role to second guitar player. His melody and strength as an arranger are what keeps a sure foothold for guitarist Gabriel Beverly. Gabe's songwriting is all about the juxtaposition of warring sounds and styles from horror to incredible beauty, all of which does nothing to keep him from being a metallic one man southern death squad on his Jackson guitar.
Monarch are as diverse a group of individuals as it gets, but when they are together making their self described "ghetto metal" on record or live, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. God forbid anyone get in the way of Dan's arm lashing mic strangulation in the live setting. No one can hide from the chest caving bottom end of Jason's left side of the stage. There is no shelter from the ecstatic dance of sonic death perpetrated by Gabe's schizophrenic dualist guitar orchestra. One would surely turn to stone if one catches a glance of the grimacing madman driving the whole thing from behind his drum set. The entire thing is a sonic death march, but truly a death march to fucking sweetness.
Dan (Dantera) Mills : Vocals
Joel (The Pussy Dodger) Hollister : Drums
Gabe (G-Unit) Beverly : Guitar
Jason (J-Tweezy) Taylor : Bass
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