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18 April 2008, 15:00
| Written by Alex Harvey
(Albums)
This release follows of period of relentless touring by Monotonix who are quietly building up a strong following in underground circles. Indeed, by all accounts Monotonix are a band that was made for live stage. I say stage; they seem to play the majority of their gigs in amongst the crowd where the action is. As footage on Youtube et al shows, this can lead to one crazy, sweaty night. For now though, let’s rejoice in this beast of an EP.Monotonix are a three-piece rock band from Israel that make one hell of a racket. Mums across the land will be screaming for this 'noise' to be turned down, but that request is sure to fall on deaf ears as this is best turned up up up. It's actually quite incredible to think that the only instruments being played here is one guitar and a drum kit. I know there are other bands like The Black Keys and The White Stripes with similar set-ups but when a song like 'Summers and Autumns' blows your little cotton socks off, you can't help but be impressed.For the most part energetic hard rock is the order of the day but title track 'Body Language' is one to shake your ass to. "Dance for me" he sings, "You should be dancing for me" and after a few beers who could refuse? Another pulsating riff from guitarist Yonatan Gat takes control of your body before the track finishes, not in restrained way, but it might as well be a slow dance at a wedding such is the ferocious, infectious nature of the rest of the EP.Singer Ami Shalev has to take a reluctant backseat throughout. His lyrics, yelps, screams and shouts are often too low in the mix to be made out clearly without repeated listens. Guitarist Gat does produce some great stuff with his meagre six strings, but he can over do it and on a couple of occasions, visions of Jack Black at the beginning of 'School of Rock' doing his rock star guitar solo and embarrassing stage dive spring to mind.I'm not sure if a whole album of Monotonix would be too much or not. This is fun, adrenaline fuelled stuff but you can see it dragging out becoming stale and samey if they don't mix it up a bit. The Body Language six-track EP goes some way to showing off the enormous energy that this band obviously exude live and one day I hope to see the madness for myself.
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Monotonix [myspace]
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