ALBUM REVIEW: Welcome To The Machine – Monkey3

Sometimes, art is best enjoyed when the artist leaves a little to the consumer’s imagination, whether that be the big scary monster in a horror film not being revealed until the final frame – or not at all – or Harold Pinter’s idea that the best drama happens in the silences between performers in a play or a film. Rock music is no different. It’s easy for a band to throw everything at a record in the hope that the listener will lose themselves in the resulting cacophony, multi-tracked guitars and vocals, additional synths and studio effects often filling all available breathing space in the music. 

Too often, though, this approach can be overwhelming, creating a barrier between the listener and the musicians themselves. Step forward MONKEY3, instrumental stoner rock maestros who first appeared on the scene in 2001, to deliver a masterful lesson in musical immersion with hardly a human voice heard. Naturally, psychedelic music perhaps lends itself more favourably to vocal-less songs thanks to the genre’s relaxed attitude to traditional song structures but, even so, creating an album that keeps the audience’s attention without the hook of a sing-or-scream-along chorus is no easy feat to pull off. Welcome To The Machine is the Swiss band’s seventh full-length album and, like much of their previous work, is built on a concept, this time telling an intense, war-torn tale of mankind vs. machine in deep, distant space. 

Opener Ignition, all ten and a half minutes of it, is a cosmic journey all by itself. Starting with a synthy hum that could be the engine of a star ship igniting, immediately the song is thick with atmosphere as samples of radio chatter and stabs of clanking percussion swirl from the speakers. Soon the stabbing guitars of Boris and the crashing drums of Walter interrupt this build-up to bring in the furious first passage of the song. As the rhythm section powers the ship forwards, the synth soars on above it all, continuing to embellish the sci-fi vibes created earlier. The breakdown at the halfway point develops into a slow, psychedelic groove which alternates between whispering synths, reverb-heavy guitars and laid back drums and bass, before building to an increasingly heavy, chaotic climax which in places has a real classic rock feel, thanks largely to the excellent solo work of Boris.

Before you can catch your breath, you’re straight into the cinematic, percussive and progressive intro to second track Collision, where the band set out to explore the conflicts we face as we continue to rely on Artificial Intelligence. It’s an interesting idea, and a very interesting tune (especially when listened to through headphones) once the huge-sounding band crashes in. Seriously, both the band and mixer Raphael Bovey should receive plaudits for the excellent production here.

Another epic track reaching over ten minutes – and the highlight of the album – is Kali Yuga, a perhaps more traditionally heavy piece, though no less varied and fascinating because of that. In Hinduism, the Kali Yuga is the final age of the world and ultimately leads to the destruction and rebirth of mankind and that sense of impending loss is captured wonderfully in the haunting guitar riffs and desperate-sounding solos of this beast. Again, this is music absolutely built to lose yourself in and if this track doesn’t do that for you then it’s probably time to give up the ghost. 

If you are someone who enjoys nothing more than immersing yourself in heavy, psychedelic space rock, pretending you’re drifting and lost in some far off galaxy as the guitars and synths swirl around you, then you will LOVE this. Think HAWKWIND, PINK FLOYD, RUSH and MASTODON jamming together and you’ll come somewhere near to this, although this whole record is more cohesive than that combination might suggest. The only thing that holds the whole thing back is whether or not the listener will pick up on – and understand – the story that the record is trying to tell. Artwork and sleeve notes could well remedy this either on or after the record’s release. This is still an incredible musical journey to take but maybe it’s one that would be even better with a copy of MONKEY3’s ‘Guide to the Galaxy’.

Rating: 8/10

Welcome To The Machine is set for release on February 23rd via Napalm Records.

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