Monarch (in the U.S. often stylised Monarch!) was a French

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band from

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, formed in 2002.

History

The band were formed in 2002 in

, France. In 2004, they released their debut, a double CD with three tracks. Since then the band continued to release albums, various

EPs EPS, EPs or Eps may refer to: Commerce and finance * Earnings per share * Electronic Payment Services, in Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen, China * Express Payment System, in the Philippines Education * Edmonton Public Schools, in Edmonton, Al ...

, singles and splits with

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

, the

Grey Daturas Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

and Elysiüm. Monarch have released with various labels, mainly with the Spanish

Throne Records A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monar ...

and have signed with US label

At A Loss Recordings AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

, which released their album ''Omens''. In the beginning of 2010, Monarch played alongside Wolves in the Throne Room in Australia, and toured North America, Japan and Australia between 2010 and 2011.

Music

The band states

and

sludge metal Sludge metal (also known as sludge or sludge doom) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated through combining elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted vocals, heavi ...

bands like Noothgrush, Corrupted,

Burning Witch Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998. Aside from EPs and split releases, the band released a compilation album called ''Crippled Lucifer'', which had songs of their early EPs. Hist ...

and The Melvins as main influences, but emphasizes with the note "but mainly Black Sabbath" the special importance of the

classic metal Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed ...

band. Their 2010 album stresses this through its title, ''Sabbat Noir'', French for ''Black Sabbath''. Eduardo Rivadavia from AllMusic sees their sound as similar to drone metal like

Khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...

and

Rigor Sardonicous Rigor Sardonicous is an American doom metal band from Long Island, New York. Coined as "raw, apocalyptic doom", Rigor Sardonicous is one of the earliest American doom metal bands that are still active today among Novembers Doom and Evoken. Th ...

, but often harsher. British magazine '' Rock-A-Rolla'' considers the band to be rooted in modern

. Monarch have also shown appreciation and claim to be influenced by

Norwegian black metal Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...

band

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

, and several

D-beat D-beat (also known as Discore, kängpunk, Discrust, and crust-beat) is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-be ...

bands such as

Discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

Disclose Disclose were a Japanese punk rock band from Kōchi City, heavily influenced by Discharge. Their sound heavily replicates Discharge's style, with an increased use of fuzz and distortion guitar effects. The subject matter is also similar to Di ...

and Aghast; and covered songs by Turbonegro and Discharge, among others.

Concept

Since their founding the band's concept did not change drastically; guitarist Kaïdine described as follows: "The main idea was to play slow and loud as fuck. We were all playing in fast bands so we wanted to play something very different, something new and challenging for us." Monarch tracks are quite long, roundabout 20 minutes, and to date the longest is the song "Amplifire Death March", which is 58:27 minutes long and was released in 2006 as part of a split. The track length caused the band to release albums almost annually for a period.

Songwriting

Their songwriting is not systematic, leaving room for random events and improvisation. Bassist MicHell stated regarding the amps, "The raw material we work with emanates directly from our amps. ��In that sense there’s actually a physical dimension in our songwriting: seeing how the amps will respond differently according to how we position ourselves in front of them to achieve, for example, a more droning effect, or harsher feedback… So we can’t really write a song unless we’re in front of stacks of loud amps.” The guitarist and bassist use amplifiers by Sovtek, Acoustic, Orange, Hiwatt,

Sunn Sunn (stylized in all lowercase) amplifiers was a brand of musical instrument amplifiers based in Tualatin, Oregon, United States. History In early 1963, the Kingsmen, a band based in Portland, Oregon, became known for their hit version of ...

and Marshall plus fuzzboxes. The singer uses

delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...

and reverb pedals.

Reception

After the reissue of ''Mer Morte'', ''Lords Of Metal'' called the band a "deep black minimalistic, slow, humongous doom monster". ''Maelstrom'' called Monarch 2007 in a review of ''Dead Men Tell No Tales'' "soon-to-be doom titans", emphasizing the album to be a challenge for every doom metal fan, though "it's worth it, as Monarch! have some fantastic music". Reviewing the same album, '' Heathen Harvest'' states that it by no means bad, but calls Monarch a copycat of pioneering bands like Boris,

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

, Isis and Khanate. German ''metal.de'' called the 2007 album ''Speak Of The Sea'' "meaningless drone tracks, which basic idea almost too obviously and thus bold was stolen from Khanate". ''Vampster'' was impressed 2010 by the album ''Sabbat Noir'' and Monarch's "undeviating path to dissolve any music into noise" and states that "neither Switchblade nor

Black Shape of Nexus Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

, Corrupted, Black Boned Angel,

Nadja Nadja may refer to: * Nadja (given name) * Nadja, pen-name of Louisa Nadia Green (1896—1934), British poet * ''Nadja'' (novel), 1928 surrealist novel by André Breton * ''Nadja'' (film), 1994 vampire film by Michael Almereyda * Nadja (band), ...

or Moss deliver more vehement antimusic than Monarch". Beside the band's extremism the reviewer recognized something new too: "This is what sludge is going to be, when one keeps moving along way outside drone doom, to try something different. ��The fact is neither drone nor doom can be more extreme without turning to pure noise. Monarch pay tribute to Black Sabbath also by making earth shaking music and in trying something new with a lot of courage and a portion of madness not to underrate ��. Village Voice called a New York concert in November 2010 "a focused, intense performance, utterly lacking the catharsis that's metal's usual stock-in-trade".

Members

;Current * Emilie "Eurogirl" Bresson – vocals * Shiran Kaïdine – guitar * MicHell Bidegain – bass * Boubi Sablon – drums * Stéphane Miollan – guitar ;Past * Felix Buff * Guillaume Lestage * Stephane Torre-Trueba * Robert Macmanus * Rob Shaffer

Discography

;Studio albums * ''

666 666 may refer to: * 666 (number) * 666 BC, a year * AD 666, a year * The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament Places * 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt * U.S. Route 666, an America ...

'' (2005) * '' Speak of the Sea'' (2006) * '' Die Tonight'' (2007) * '' Mer Morte'' (2008) * '' Sabbat Noir'' (2010) * '' Omens'' (2012) * '' Sabbracadaver'' (2014) * ''Never Forever'' (2017) ;EPs * ''

Swan Song The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...

'' (2006) * '' A Look at Tomorrow / Mass Destruction'' (2009) * '' Sortilège'' (2011) * ''

Sacrifice Your Parents, Satan Wants You To Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...

'' (2015) ;Splits * '' Elysiüm / Monarch'' (2006) * '' Monarch / Moss'' (2007) * ''

Dawn of the Catalyst Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...

'' (2007) * '' Birushanah / Monarch'' (2017) ;Compilations * '' Dead Men Tell No Tales'' (2007)

References

Labelwebsite on heathenskulls.com:
Monarch « Heathen Skulls
'', accessed March 2, 2011 Bandwebsite on myspace.com:
MONARCH!
', accessed March 2, 2011 allmusic.com:
Monarch! at AllMusic
', accessed March 2, 2011 Robyn Morrison: ''Make way for the Monarch procession'' In:
Sludge Factory
'', February 24, 2011; accessed March 2, 2011 ''Monarch'' Interview in: Rock-a-Rolla, No. 27, September 2010
rock-a-rolla.com » Online
; accessed March 2, 2011 Erik Heylen: Review on lordsofmetal.nl:
Lords Of Metal metal E-zine
'; accessed March 2, 2011 Review on maelstrom.nu:
Album Review MONARCH!-Dead Men Tell No Tales :: Maelstrom :: Issue No 54
''; accessed March 6, 2011 Review on hh.heathenhideout.com:
Heathen Harvest - Reviews: Monarch - Dead Men Tell No Tales (2CD)
''; accessed March 6, 2011 Review on metal.de:
Monarch (FR) - Speak Of The Sea - CD-Review bei metal.de
'; accessed March 6, 2011 Review on vampster.com:

'; accessed March 6, 2011 Concert review on blogs.villagevoice.com: Phil Freeman:
Live: Doom-Metal Crew Monarch Lead A Violent Ladies'-Night Spectacular At Cake Shop - New York Music - Sound of the City
'', November 15, 2010; accessed March 6, 2011

External links

* *Bipart video of a concert of Monarch on July 28, 2007 in Basetxe,

Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran ( eu, Trapagaran, es, Valle de Trápaga) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is located near Barakaldo, Portugalete and Ortu ...

, Spain: :
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{{Authority control 2002 establishments in France Drone metal musical groups French doom metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2002 People from Bayonne Profound Lore Records artists Sludge metal musical groups