Albums

Album Review: The Mono Effect

[Album: Giants]
[Label: Lockjaw Records]

Lockjaw Records latest release ‘Giants’ is the long awaited debut album from Cambridge hopefuls The Mono Effect. To suggest it’s been a long time coming would be anything but a huge understatement. In fact, it’s been close to 4 years since they first burst onto the UK rock radar when infectious mini-anthem ‘One Night Stand’ was included on the popular ‘Punktastic Un-Scene’ compilation release. So the interest in what has been happening in Camp Mono is pretty huge.

The good news is that the wait has been more then worth it. The bad news is if you were expecting an album full of ‘One Night Stand’-style tunes you will be disappointed – they have moved on in a very big way from those “early doors” recordings. The Mono Effect presented to us today is a much harder, far wiser and better defined proposition altogether.

‘Giants’ is packed to the rafters with instantly memorable anthems and opening track ‘Suffragette’ kicks proceedings off with a huge amount of promise and a massive dollop of catchiness. It’s when second track ‘Confidence’ starts that you realise this band are the real deal. I have often wondered if the UK music scene was capable of producing a band that could really rival the Jimmy Eat Worlds and Foo Fighters of the world and this tune almost single-handedly dispelled my fears. Track after track blast out of your stereo speakers, every chorus a killer and every lyric delivered like a relentless lesson in songwriting skill. Other album highlights include ‘Kill The Mood’, ‘Blessed By Angels’ and ‘Lull’. Each track is fantastic on its own but when listened to within the context of an album you begin to see just how much could be achieved by this band in the long-term. The only thing that lets this album down a little (and I am being ultra-critical here, I admit) is that the slower songs do sit a little uncomfortably alongside the adrenalin-fuelled rockers that dominate the overall Mono Effect sound.

The most impressive thing about this record for me (apart from the sheer melodic ambition of their overall sound) is the attention to detail. It’s clearly obvious, early on, why The Mono Effect have been a little quiet on the recording and release front for a few years because this album is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when the right amount of time and dedication is devoted to a project. The vocals are passionate, the music diverse, urgent and structurally flawless and you could easily notice something new in each song on almost every extra listen. The Mono Effect have finally arrived proper and ‘Giants’ should see them stand head and shoulders above the competition.

For Fans Of: Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, Brigade

Band Link:
The Mono Effect

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