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Mona

Torches and Pitchforks

Written by: HES on 06/01/2014 12:31:41

"Torches and Pitchforks" is the second album from Nashville rockers "Mona". I'll be the first to admit I haven't listened to their first album, but I understand it was received well. The band tries to combine the Nashville tradition with alternative rock - but this is not another folkish country album like the kind The Lumineers or Mumford And Sons are famous for. "Torches and Pitchforks" is a rock-album more than anything - I'd even go as far as to proclaim it rock'n'roll.

Lead singer Nick Brown has impressive vocal power - like a mix-up between Bruce Springsteen and Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon - the latter also sharing the Nashville origin with Mona. Brown's vocals carry songs like "Freeway", "Wasted" and "Cross the Line" from ordinary into the extraordinary. It's an old country tradition to let a believable narrative carry the music and Brown's voice, all hoarse and crackling, sounds like it has stories to tell. The single off the albums, "Goons", has a great yelling-choir chorus, supported by rocking, rolling and rumbling guitar and drums. In spite of this song being a good choice of single, many other songs on the album have the same hit-quality like "L.L.L." and the previously mentioned "Freeway".

It's so easy to use Kings of Leon as a point of reference for this band, even though there are probably hundreds of bands in this genre - but if you're not familiar with Mona I'd describe them as the less polished version of Kings of Leon’s stadium-rock. Unfortunately this is also bit of the negative part of the album - it's a bit heavy and dense. It personally took me quite a while to get into it, because it's not necessarily a catchy album, although it's well written and beautiful. The album's interludes annoy me a bit as they seem more like half-a-songs than interludes - nothing is different after the interlude so they don't herald a shift in styles or tempo. They just seem like fun gimmicks - and that's great but a little too much on top of a long album with the energy soaring at 100% most of the time.

Download: Wasted, L.L.L., Goons, Freeway
For The Fans Of: Tribes, Kings of Leon, Flashguns
Listen: facebook.com

Release Date 23.07.2013
Island/Mercury