Monolord shares a final preview of their forthcoming album Neverending (May 29, Relapse Records) with today’s release of “It’s Neverending,” featuring guest vocalist Jörgen Sandström of Grave, formerly of Entombed.
“I did the growling on the demo, but it took me forever to record,” vocalist/guitarist Thomas Jäger explains. “It was more like to illustrate the idea. But Jörgen’s voice is so powerful, and his performance on the song is really great.” The finished track is a deathly-doom epic. “When we got the vocals finally in place, I remember I just burst into laughter,” bassist Mika Häkki adds. “That was just my sincere reaction to how happy that end result made me. Jörgen must have opened some new portal of some kind with those screams!”
To create Neverending, Monolord decamped to Ashland, Oregon to record with legendary producer/engineer Sylvia Massy (Tool, System of a Down, and Johnny Cash). The collaboration began when Massy asked vocalist/guitarist Thomas Jäger to send everything the band had ever written. “She asked me to send her everything we had—not just songs written for the album, but every stray riff and idea,” he says. “I even sent her stuff I’d written ten years ago. She listened to all of it and sent us a list of what she wanted to work on.” The band rehearsed 12 songs, recorded 11, and ultimately selected eight for Neverending. The result captures a focused but expansive version of Monolord’s sound.
The band announced the new album with a video for “You Bastard,” which captured moments from their studio sessions with Massy. Revolver said the four-plus minute track is “glorious” and Consequence, who named it their “heavy song of the week,” described it as “a hefty and quite melodic piece of doom metal,” while simultaneously declaring Monolord the “Swedish titans of doom.” They offered a second preview with the recently released song “Oozing Wound,” which MetalSucks noted is “a major change for the band, as it’s the first time they’ve tuned wayyy down for maximum heavy.”
