MonstrO

Their self-titled debut album for Vagrant Records twists and turns through a psychedelic hard rock haze that's as hypnotic as it is heavy. That heady combination is embodied on "Stallone" which glides from a guttural stomp into a resounding refrain, while "Concertina" rises and falls with a dark elegance, and album closer "April" blasts off on the fumes of a final ethereal hum. Four individual sonic personalities converge to make this music. On the self-titled debut, MonstrO sets a precedent of thier own. Without any regard for the zeitgeist's whims, the band entered an Atlanta studio with Alice In Chains vocalist William Duvall in the producer's seat and, over the course of 14 days in 2011, they recorded the entire album. They wanted to end up with a sound that reminded them of their heroes without blatant imitation. What they arrived at was so much bigger. The quartet conjured a style that draws upon everything from '60s psychedelica to shoegaze to heavy metal.