Review Summary: Of man’s many attempts at space travel, not every mission was a success, but the times where they were are downright glorious.
Monad is the second full-length album by Greek prog band
Dol Theeta, released after a 14-year long hiatus. Consequently, quite a lot has changed since their debut
The Universe Expands. Kortessa Tsifodimou’s vocal skill has aged like fine wine as her strength, endurance, and range have greatly improved from an already impressive debut; her lyrical and vocal deliveries are powerful, probably ranking amongst the strongest of the year so far throughout the prog metal scene. Multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Thanasis Lightbridge has also shifted the stylistic focus of
Monad closer to eclectic prog rock rather than metal, as the riffs have mostly stepped from the foreground and into the rhythm section in favor of their vibrant, spacey synths (enough to warrant a couple of “electronic” genre labels) and Kortessa’s lead vocal harmonies. Nonetheless, there is still plenty of technical, standout guitar work in this album, albeit more spaced apart. Generally, the music is a bit more subtle which takes a bit longer for songs to hit, but you’ll gain an adequate payoff for the time invested.
While their debut album was more about humanity’s interaction with a vast, mysterious cosmos,
Monad ‘s theme illustrates the triumphs and obstacles of our conscious isolation. Even though we are (seemingly) surrounded by other thinking people, a mental barrier still isolates us. As of today, nobody can truly know what the thoughts and feelings of others are, and even though we can appeal to the best explanation, every social interaction is taken through a small leap of faith. We enter this world alone, through life we create egocentric monoliths, and like an astronaut walking into deep space, we exit this world alone.
Moving onto the music itself, if I didn’t emphasize it enough, Kortessa Tsifodimou almost steals the show in this. Her vocal style is classical and operatic, almost similar to Einar Solberg’s (
Leprous), but the way her vocal passages are harmonized makes them feel super epic and climactic. Some of the best songs are “We Die Alone”, “Modus Operandi”, and the extravagant “Enchanted”, where her vocals capture the strongest melodies and are still complemented with enough quality in the instrumental bridges to give us a bit of variety. Furthermore, all three are bustling with energetic acoustic guitars, groovy riffs, and a combination of tribal and progressive electronic sections.
In contrast, “Umbilical” succeeds in building a subtle, spacey atmosphere with wandering synths and developing vocal croons; these bridge into sentimental verses complemented by staccato backing vocals, capitalized by back-to-back synth and guitar solos. The most metal song on the album is “Quicksand Portal,” which features ominous synths sounding a bit like the newest
Hail Spirit Noir album, and a piano section reminiscent of late 90s
Dream Theater. To push the conspicuousness of their prog metal references, their spoken word interlude ordering and drinking an amazing cup of coffee harkens back to the tale of the omniscient alien himself.
In “Monolith”, even though the vocals are loud and going for an epic sound, their lack of melody and one-note approach make them fairly forgettable. Along with the chuggy riffs and extended atmospheric sections, the synths could not save the song from feeling draggy. The same criticism could be also extended to most of the title track; even though it’s over seven minutes long, not much could be taken away from it other than the ending vocal climax.
Overall,
Monad does not have any enveloping weaknesses in its core sounds aside from being a prog metal album with minimal guitar work. Also, some of the weaker tracks can easily weaken the album flow. But despite these shortcomings,
Dol Theeta pulls off something grand, captivating, and introspective. And as far as the uniqueness of this album goes, aside from Thanasis’ other work in
Dol Ammand, I couldn’t find any other music with this combination of vocals, spacey progressive electronic, and prog metal influences since
Marge Litch‘s final album in 1998. Sure, not every song sticks the landing, but when they do, they do so with enviable grace.
