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by brian tracy (TwilightBurning) / joseph m. pence (notaninja) - Sep 01, 2003
Monster Honkey - Monster Honkey Review #1 - Joe Pence Monster Honkey's self-titled release is a mixed bag, and a lot of my opinions on this album rely on two base points. First off, Wilson Hensleigh is either from the Cap'n Jazz or Jello Biafra school of singing; some of the time his vocals lend themselves to the music, while other times he rubs it the wrong way with his grinding nasal screeches. Add to this predictably discordant, muddy guitar layers from song to song, and you've summed up a good deal of what made me uncomfortable with this album. There is some promising material on the latter part though, if you can make it. "Slicing Down Broadway" is a sonic assault replete with percussion rolls and thrashing metal guitars. "Burning Rubber" is clangy bass and distorted guitars in a spinning, almost drunken wallow. "Beaches II" is filled with electrostatic guitar stabs over minimalist drum lines which lend a sense of deconstructivism to the album. My main complaint is that while some of the individual performances are interesting, Monster Honkey as a whole is noticeably absent when it comes near any given moment of collective triumphancy. Monster Honkey, the album, does nothing for Monster Honkey, the band, in defining their own sound, their own soul, from a huge stack of other alt-metal bands that want to be either Helmet or Nirvana. Review #2 - Brian Tracy Monster Honkey offer an interesting mix of music. Their eight-song album has hints of metal, desert rock and more. At times the elements combine to form an interesting collection of rock songs that works more on some songs than it does on others. The songs on this album are generally fairly well constructed and have enough variety that they don't blend together. Instrumentally one of the key things that got my attention, and this is a simple but enjoyable point, is all the tracks feature a catchy instrumental opening. While this is not necessarily the strongest point of the CD it is something that I find lacking in many albums; less importance seems to have been placed on the beginning of songs, be it because intros are cut by the radio or simply the changing of the times, lots of songs these days just jumps right into the music, putting little importance on the intro of a song which can do so much for a track as it has the opportunity to really set the tone for the song. While Monster Honkey may have a good instrumental basis I think vocally they suffer some. While I like the variety of styles used on the album at times they feel weak. The vocals at time seemed to waver, or have a unsure sound to them, and while it does contrast the music nicely I think it contrasts too much as it sounded out of place among the instruments. |