Album Review: Lo! - 'Monstrorum Historia'

Dense, gritty and downtrodden, Sydney’s Lo! aren’t concerned about being flashy or colourful, they are merely motivated by the need to write and perform music that is sincere.

Sophomore album, ‘Monstrorum Historia’ is easy to embrace, granted Converge and Old Man Gloom are on one’s regular playlist. The band just seems to pick-up from where they left off. There are no moments of indecision, Lo! evidently know what sound they are after and present it with clear purpose.

It’s dirty metal in a desirable sense. Much like Baroness, Mastodon et al. it’s a no-bullshit, purely musical approach. While, each track stands in isolation, it really is a studio album in its intended form – to be viewed and listened to as a whole. There aren’t singles or sing-a-long moments.

Early tracks ‘Bloody Vultures’, ‘Ghost Promenade’ and ‘Caruncula’ all employ the same style. Thankfully, not in a repetitive sense. It’s darker and certainly not clean-cut, but if determined, impassioned heavy music is your musical diet of choice, Lo! deserve a spot on the stereo.

‘Haven, Beneath Weeping Willows’ is like the convenient intermission. After the intensity of the opening collection of tracks, the song is a neat instrumental point.

‘Fallen Leaves’ merges everything together. It’s moody and a little slower, but drops only to again pound the listener through the agency of harsh vocals and bass lines.

‘Lichtenberg Figures’ is heavier and allows the double kick to enter the frame. Concluding track, ‘So Below – Before We Disappear’ provides the album’s longest track, coming in at over six minutes. There’s nothing typical about Lo! If they want to write a long song they will. If they want to write a short song, no hassles there either.

Unfashionable in the best possible way, ‘Monstrorum Historia’ is another important Australian heavy release in 2013.

Lo! have a very pure sound. 'Monstrorum Historia' is unburdened and untainted. This is 11 tracks of solid heavy music.

1. As Above

2. Bloody Vultures 

3. Ghost Promenade 

4. Caruncula 

5. Haven, Beneath Weeping Willows 

6. Falles Leaves 

7. Crooked Path, the Strangers Ritual 

8. Lichtenberg Figures 

9. Bleak Vanity 

10. Palisades of Fire

11. So Below - Before We Disappear