Monomorte - Ad Extremvm

No matter how many times I look into the witch house genre, every time I listen to the genre of music, I always find myself at a sort of wonderment; the sounds are usually beautiful, disturbing, and atmospheric all at the same time. I can't help but feel lost in a sea of souls as I'm traversed from one spiritual realization to the next. Perhaps I'm looking too deeply into the music I'm diving into, but this is certainly how I feel as I listen to Monomor†e.

Founded by Danny Dellamorte, frontman of The Ladder as well as Of These, Hope. So, the guy has a pretty good background in the field, however, such a genre change from the other two bands could leave doubt in the mind of the naysayer, disputing that a man from a mainly electronic outfit would never be able to jump into a witch house project and do it successfully.

Well, those naysayers are about to take a big fat boot to the mouth, because this is a fine release by all means. The title of the album, as well as all of the songs are in Latin, adding to the overall flare of the album. Of course, with that, you also have the tendencies to replace the letter u with the letter v in classic fashion, as well as adding a little cross to replace the t in the name of the project.

Anyway, all aesthetics aside, the album begins off with a short intro track, Mortvos. We're given some ambiance, along with a pretty low voice that I'd quaint to a demon's. The track follows straight through into Caedo, which is heavy on static noise, as well as with the bass drops. It still maintains a fragrance of mystery about it, as still low, but distorted vocals reap the benefits of the song. Eventually, we're kicked in with some normal vocals from the lead man, but they still have some digital effects on them. All in all, it sounds like this song was recorded on top of a mountain as a sacred ritual was taking place; and that is an absolutely wonderful effect.

We're then pushed into Lacerandvm, which really holds well together. It mainly gets rid of all the vocals, and continues off as a swell paced song. Some female chanting happens in the background here and there, performing extremely well and adding to the overall feel of the album. And this song flows right into the next, Reptilis Oscvlvum. The first part of the song is really slow, and if you listen in closely, you can hear faint whispers. And it remains fairly slow for the most part, allowing each and every single sound and noise that manages to break in the song reverberate in your head and hit nicely.

Again, though, the last track flows into this one. Daemon Fvtvo kicks things up a bit, making for something that I would compare to being more dark than the rest of the album. With samples saying such things as, "What do you think the first Satanic church believed in?", you are certainly getting your daily doe of evil within this song. And, as the last part to this chapter, Dedisco plays out more like a dark ambient song than anything. There's a lack of bass in it, a lack of sound; it manages to just sound creepy with barely anything going on except faint noises, and a synth line that haunts throughout the song.

And, ending off this review, it was a pleasure to listen to this album. While I don't listen to witch house often, it always holds a special place within my musical persona. I adore it, and am always looking for more of it. And, this, well, this is something that I'd definitely come back to when I get in a witchy mood, or shall I say warlock mood. It was good, and I do plan on revisiting it sometime in the future. Mar 22 2014