Customer Reviews

Monolithic Baby

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the post-Kyuss world of Stoner Rock, it doesn't seem like any band is capable of the epic songs anymore. Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu, 2 flagbearers of this genre, have tried to sell out(IMHO) with their last albums respectively. Unfortunately both failed to sell as many as they probably hoped for.

Now Dave Wyndorf and the band come back with a true rockin' record. What's most pleasing to see is that this album flows from one song to the next, something God Says No and Powertrip failed to do. They're also bringing back some of the less-produced keyboard loop sounds from the Tab EP of almost a decade ago. There are definitely hints of Superjudge and Dopes To Infinity on this record too.

There are not many bands out there that deserve to truly make some big money.. Monster Magnet is one of them. For more than a decade they've stuck to their own brand of spaced-out, power-riff madness influenced by psychadelia. Dave Wyndorf is one amazing songwriter who also pioneered the CD-ROM/DVD stuff before other bands got onto it. Ed Mundell is one of the juicest guitarists around(just listen to Atomic Bitchwax), and the drumming in Monster Magnet has always been excellent. For 2 albums they lost their way making commercial music while touring with the likes of Marilyn Manson and Slipknot(?).. but this time THEY ARE DEFINITELY BACK!!

4.5 stars from me.. but 5 out of 5 due to the fact that they've gone back to their roots. I hope this is the album that finally gets Monster Magnet to the star status they deserve.. Dave Wyndorf is the world's biggest rockstar who's not a big-time rockstar yet.. maybe this is the time.

As the Monster Magnet website declares: Rock Is Alive! Aside from MM and a few others, I can't think of too many bands who can make that claim these days. With all the sound-alike down-tuned no-solo "rock" out there these days, Monolithic Baby! is a welcome return to old-school hard rock. It is just a great hard-rocking, wacky, fun listen, with all the good stuff you expect from Magnet: pounding rhythm section, overdriven guitars, and some shredding solos, capped off by Dave Wyndorf's wacky view of the world. Definitely not as psychedelic as Spine Of God or even Dopes To Infinity, but overall, I think this is arguably their best work to date.

My song picks: Supercruel, Radiation Day, Monolithic and Master Of Light.

This is definitely Monster Magnet's best effort to date. A much more serious rock album that kicks from start to finish. Dave Wyndorf and Monster Magnet are leading the way to the return of what rock once was. The bonus dvd is also really cool with great live footage, videos, and an interview. You won't be sorry you bought this one!

Monolithic Baby, the latest rock effort by southern New Jersey's Monster Magnet, sprung out of a random singularity that unraveled in the wispy fabric of space. It was born of a cyclopian rock-god dog-tired of puerile wailings layered over commerci-pop riffs. Monolithic Baby sprouted out of a meteorite that innocuously planted itself in a tract of Bruce Springsteen's backyard farmland in Colt's Neck. And Dave Wyndorf, the story goes, cloaked in dark garb, gained possession of this alien growth under shady, possibly criminal circumstances. And he heaved the monolithic spacerock into the sky. This tumbling mass bucked gravity and escaped the atmosphere's outer skin and inexplicably, Monolithic Baby reversed course and pierced again the exosphere on May 25th, 2004 and clobbered the North American continent with a Nagasaki-sized wollop. Monolithic Baby is pure metal wrapped inside a white-evil husk, set upon a plinth in Satan's museum of inspired artifacts. And Monolith Baby is more than that. It's the kind of album that you can leave spinning in your CD player at a listening volume at magnet midnight, and you can go to bed to it, and splay out your limbs in an X-marks-this-landing-pad-for-Wyndorf's-mindsplash, and saunter into your dreams drugged on the arresting sound of genuine, legitimate hard rock. So buy this freaking album if you need a transmutation of soul. Or if this age of terror and over-consumption got you down. Or if you just want to dream again.

What it is: a very solid rock album. What it isn't: an acid trip on a 5-inch plastic disc. It sounds like Magnet has "matured", for better or for worse. Musically and lyrically far more coherent than anything they've done before, but the cost of mainstreaming is the loss of their famed psychedelic sound. It's certainly one of the best rock albums of the last few years, but it's not what Magnet fans are expecting. Don't expect Wyndorf to blow your mind, but he will blow your eardrums.

Monster Magnet has done it again!!!

I can't get enough of any Monster Magnet CD and this one just got added to my necessary car Magnet stash along with the others. Dave Wyndorf and company are sorely underated by the suits but that's ok by me. They keep ROCK real instead.

One thing I always love about Dave Wyndorf is his lyrics. "Your stone monolithic, I smell it on your breath, you gotta 'bout nothin' to say". Rock lyrics are great when they can mean anything or nothing at all.
I love the the cockiness of Unbroken. "You can choke on your own medication, I can watch myself on t.v."
A little politics from Dave in CNN War Theme? "I'll see you all in June." It's about time someone in a rock band stood up and said something about the Iraq mess. All we get is Three Doors Down and their pitiful patriotic garbage. Of course it took an indie label to allow Dave to do such a thing.
Let's face it, many new rock bands come out and have nothing new to say. Monster Magnet have put out consistently good albums for over a decade now. This is one of their best. Like any band each album is good for different reasons. This one brings together the greatest metal/psycedelic/punk/stoner rock that they have done to some varying degree since Spine of God.
If you are looking for something ground-breaking, witty or enlightening this is not for you. If you want some good rock to drive fast with your windows down this summer this is it.
And just a bit clever to boot...

Definitely downplays the psychedelic side of the band. More of a straightforward rock album. The lack of psychedelia kind of makes it sound flatter than previous albums, but it is a really good rock record anyway you cut it. Still has the heavy riffage and similar themes. I only have Superjudge and Dopes to Inifinity and it is definitely closer to Dopes of the two records, but still less psychedelic. So if you're into the band for the psychedelic side this probably won't appeal to you as much as earlier releases.

No matter what else I listen to, I'm constantly coming back to this CD. Definately Kicks Ass. I'm not sure if I'd equate it to the earlier Magnet stuff as much as other people do, but I didn't think God Says No was as far off from the earlier albums either. Personally, I like the evolution bands take from their first to last albums, so I listen to the whole Monster Magnet collection.

This album is more Rock then Fuzz, but provides a good compliment to the influences of todays rock without that "mainstream" aftertaste you get from other bands.

I'm not sure what to equate Monster Magnet to. I get tired of Black Sabbath or Kyuss references, because everyone is compared to them so it loses its meaning, however true it is. You just have to listen to a Magnet album.

I wouldn't pick up this album with expectations that its a new Spine of God, its not. The best way to go is to not have expectations at all, then you'll be blown away by this CD.

This album smokes!! (pun intended!) It manages to have more "hits" than most other contemporary rock records, and yet is far from being a sellout record. Check out "Supercruel", "Master of Light", and "Unbroken (Hotel Baby)" on this disc and you'll see what I mean (if there is any justice in the world, these songs will become rock radio staples).

For over 15 years, these guys have consistently put out quality recordings, each one topping the last. "Monolithic Baby" takes them to the next level, and yet is consistent with the stoner vision that they've maintained throughout their career.

I'm surprised to hear other reviewers say that "God Says No" was a disappointment. That album is an underappreciated masterpiece as well. "Monolothic Baby" is a logical follow-up to that record, even while it contains nods to their past. Get this disc!