Review: The Mon ‘Songs Of Embrace’
The Mon, the one-man, experimental, psychedelic project of Urlo, one of the primary engineers of legendary Italian universe destroyers, Ufomammut, returns in prompt fashion with the second installment, Songs Of Embrace, from his two-album epic, Embrace The Abandon. I thoroughly enjoyed Part One, Songs Of Abandon, and was excited to immerse myself in Part Two.
Unlike the first act, Songs of Embrace is all instrumental, and therefore a completely different aural experience. Opening with Invocation Of The Abyss, it slowly expands into the listener’s consciousness with all sorts of interesting, yet ominous sounds, which continue to build courtesy of Urlo’s synth wizardry and sense of dynamics. Three Nails, One Heart is a two-plus-minute blast of dark, unsettling cosmic synth, with only some lighter notes sprinkled in to keep the listener from being infinitely enveloped by the spacey darkness.
Next, Incantation is a track that sonically connects the two records as it leans into a trippy, yet menacing guitar strum, wherein each note is capable of evoking a feeling or an emotion. There’s also a palpable sense of foreboding throughout its near six-minute runtime, a feeling that something sinister might lie ahead, as swirls of eerie effects run in unison with the guitar.
The Sigil literally explodes into awareness with waves of massive, cosmic, distorted guitar synth that instantly retrieves the listener from the introspective energy of Incantation. The creepy, disquieting vibes of A Pearlescent Pulse Of Light compete with its weird, creaking sound effects, sounding like some otherworldly soundscape, or perhaps the soundtrack to a human descending into a vortex of lonely madness.
The whole of the album plays out like a bleak, psychedelic soundscape…
The centerpiece is undoubtedly the tense, unnerving sounds of Ritual Of Night Violence, which is anchored by some of the nastiest, most crushing atmospherics one is likely to experience this year. The aptly named Sovereign Of Silence, complete with sparse, echoing bass notes, serve as a melancholic, psychedelic palate cleanser following the dark, all-consuming denseness of the previous movement.
Again, showing a mastery of mood and tension, puts both on vivid display with the musical movement that is Embers Of The Calendula, wherein we are rewarded with introspective, minimal notes that soon give way to a foreboding, menacing synth that hints at certain doom. The penultimate Echoes Of The Drowned is shrouded in epic, devastating bass and synth, with a beeping, almost countdown-like noise running throughout its entirety. It also boasts trippy synths reminiscent of a late-’60s sci-fi cult classic.
The finale, and the title of the two-album project, Embrace The Abandon, lets loose with a myriad of sounds and effects, bringing these sonic movements to a satisfying close. The whole of the album plays out like a bleak, psychedelic soundscape or a soundtrack to the dark corners of the mind, serving as a fitting conclusion to this sprawling epic and a final descent into the maestro’s personal sonic portal.”
In addition, I played both records back-to-back multiple times with headphones on, and it was quite the sonic experience, especially late at night. Songs of Embrace deftly brings this epic project, from one of the most original and creative minds in the whole of doom metal, to a fitting close.
Label: Supernatural Cat
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Scribed by: Martin Williams
