Monje - Lágrimas de Sangre
MONJE RELEASES GARGANTUAN ‘LAGRIMAS DE SANGRE’
Straight out of Buenos Aires, Argentina comes a hellishly excellent doom/stoner outfit called Monje. The band just released “Lágrimas de Sangre,” which translates to “Tears of Blood.” The band’s name, Monje, means “monk.”
Monje
According to Monje’s Bandcamp page, Lágrimas de Sangre was “recorded live in March 2020 in La Paternal, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mastering by Patricio Claypole at Estudio Attic, April 2020. Art and design by Deliriavision.”
Made up of James Wright (vocals), Diego Petullo (guitar), Guido Soldini (bass), and Daniel Iranzo (drums), Monje’s sound includes bottomless vibrating punch from the earth’s core and chant-like vocals eschewing the Cookie Monster roars and howls so prevalent in doom right now.
Formed in 2016, the band released its self-titled album in 2018, with Sebastian Rolon on vocals. Since then, they replaced Rolon with Wright, while maintaining the rest of the lineup.
This is doom music emanating vast primitive, crepuscular power partnered by cruelly superior vocals.
The song opens on monstrous crunching drums, austere and potent, followed by dark muscle-bound guitars and a bassline from Tartarus. Wright’s intoning vocals infuse the lyrics with mystical colors surrounded by elusive tendrils of recollection. When he unleashes his snarling tones, adding emphasis, he avoids the usual theatrical banshee barking.
The gravitational resonance of the harmonics hammers with Jovian energy, leading to Petullo’s galvanizing licks on the solo section. I love the surging roll of the guitar, imbuing the song with heaving wall-of-sound waves.
Iranzo’s drums flood the rhythm with taut cracks and pulsating momentum accented by crashing gleams of cymbals.
“An infection runs through your veins / Forces you to kill / Imprisoned by demons / The eye that sees everything / You do what you can to remove it / Poison and heavy smoke / We can still see what you are.”
Monje most definitely has it going on! This is doom music emanating vast primitive, crepuscular power partnered by cruelly superior vocals.
