If ever there was an award for misleading imagery and album art, France's MONARCH! would win hands down. Looking deeper, the cutesy noir anime album art conceals some intensely macabre drone doom in the tradition of EARTH and SUNN O))). And yes, just like the "O)))" in SUNN O))), the "!" in the band's name is intentional and part of the proper spelling. This double album, "Dead Men Tell No Tales", is actually an out-of-print EP ("Speak of the Sea") packaged with a newly recorded album ("Die Tonight") which altogether yields five tracks averaging 20 minutes apiece. So… ridiculous song length? Check. Rumbling low A chords? Check. Excessive feedback? Check. Bare minimum percussion? Check. There are, however, some pleasant surprises. For one, MONARCH! may possibly be the first female-fronted band of its budding genre. Vocalist Emilie (a.k.a. Eurogirl) adds a fresh brand of feminist power to an otherwise highly predictable style. Her vocals, while used sparingly, are not unlike OTEP (with a French accent, of course), incorporating tense whispering along with her shrieking. The stop-and-go action at the 6 minute mark of "Winter Bride" is a nice touch, and almost gives the song a sense of actual structure. The title track, which is the last track of the "Speak of the Sea" half, isn't actually a song - it's a whispered poem recited against the sounds of wind and crashing waves. The chilling eroticism of this track, though, is unprecedented for this kind of music.

But the big question is this: given the unquestionably small market for drone doom, is a female-fronted French band going to be able to reach audiences that American guys in monk's robes can't? Well, quite possibly. The contrast of beauty and darkness is a winning combination that could very well give them an edge (check out the video on their MySpace page to see what I mean). And with the latest SUNN O)))/BORIS split receiving a respectable amount of critical acclaim, it's only a matter of time until this style is embraced by more than just a scant few. But for those who are already familiar with it and think that owning one ultra-slow album in this vein is good enough, MONARCH! still has enough uniqueness that makes them worth a look-see.

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: www.myspace.com/monarchuberalles

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