Monuments - Nefarious

It’s only been a year or so since we had new material from John Browne and the prog metal giants Monuments, but it feels like it’s been far longer than that. Fortunately, they’ve given us a new single! Nefarious touches all the points that I love about Monuments. John Browne and the rest of the band have brought another huge track that bounces back and forth between intricate patterns and open, off-time breaks.

Browne’s stellar guitar work continues to amaze and confound with his machine-gun right hand work and by writing riffs that while super busy and involved, are never overstated and go miles to lay the musical foundation of the music that Monuments produces. Browne’s masterful guitar work is only part of the machine that makes up Monuments though; Mike Malyan’s drumming is (and always has been) powerful and always fits the song perfectly. For a guy who hits as hard as Malyan does, he’s got ridiculous amounts of style and grace. He’s a joy to watch play. On the vocal front, Andy Cizek continues to crush with both his clean and harsh singing. Cizek has serious pipes! Following Adam Swan’s departure on bass last year, touring bassist Werner Erkelens has stepped in to fill Swanny’s big shoes. (Truth be told, Brown may have tracked the bass on this material, but Erkelens undoubtedly has big enough chops just to be in the room with the rest of the Monuments crew, so I’m sure he won’t disappoint…)

For a band that has had members come and go over time, Monuments continues to produce killer stuff consistently which can be largely credited to Browne. If you’re like me and you dig your music heavy with a technical bent and a blend of melodic goodness and screamo, it’s hard to beat Monuments.

Score – 8 out of 10. More killer technical prog metal!

-John

#progmetal #monuments #johnbrowne #nefarious #technicalmusic