Monograf – Occultation Review

By Creeping Ivy

In the world of academia, the ‘monograph’ reigns supreme. A book-length study of a single subject, a monograph should synthesize essay-length analyses into one argument that contributes something new to the scholar’s field. To analogize the world of music to academia: the monograph stands in for the album, demonstrating an artist’s ability to cohere individual songs into one holistic listen. Monograf, a Norwegian post-rock collective, published its first monograph in 2019. Nadir made a novel contribution to post-rock by adding Norwegian folk music to soundscapes reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor.1 As it reviews sophomore effort Occultation, the tenure board will determine whether Monograf is worthy of that increasingly elusive professional state—job security.

The academic analogy suits Mongraf, given the background of its primary composer. Erik Aanonsen is polymathic; he serves as vocalist and guitarist, writes the music and lyrics, and even provides nykkelharpa (a Swedish keyed fiddle). Aanonsen also leverages his degree in film scoring as producer and recording engineer for Occultation.2 With a keyboardist (Ingvill Trydal) and another fiddler in tow (Sunniva Molvær Ihlhaug), Monograf sculpt cinematic tracks that sound like a less droning Wyatt E. These songs weave serpentine riffs, atmospheric synths, and folky fiddling into a loud/quiet/loud tapestry. The fiddle melodies frequently take center stage, crescendoing into intense payoffs (“The Prophet,” “Cripplegate”). Despite being more compressed than a cinematic album should be, the production is delightfully organic, especially its crackling guitar tones. Essentially, Occultation scores its cover art: one can feel the heat rising in this druid-filled sonic desert.

Occultation explores a more metal subject than its post-rock predecessor, mostly with success. With album two, Monograf adds doom, progressive, and even extreme metal credentials to their CV.3 Aanonsen, second guitarist Martin Sivertsen, and bassist Hanna Sannes Aanonsen often begin songs with the droning simplicity of an Om-inspired riff that develops into complex noodling à la prog-era Opeth (“The Prophet,” “Occultation”). Drummer Erlend Markussen Kilane adds more complexity, roving between jazzy snare work, thundering tom hits, and scene-stealing fills (“Cripplegate,” “Carrion Seller”). Vocally, Aanonsen still delivers the ghostly cleans that dominate Nadir, but he adds a raspy shout to Occultation. For the most part, these harsh vocals create urgency that the music doesn’t quite call for. But occasionally, Monograf snags a catchy chorus out of Aanonsen’s shout (“Occultation”).

Monograf aptly structures Occultation as a whole, though the songwriting strategy grows repetitive. Occultation is a dyad; a mid-album breather (“Ashes”) divides halves comprised of two longer songs. “The Prophet” and “Cripplegate” kick things off with compelling call-and-response arrangements: the riffs call, the fiddle responds. “Ashes” is a welcome reprieve, smothering intimate acoustic chords and Aanonsen’s gorgeous cleans underneath drum flourishes that swell in volume. The track comes off, however, as a bit of an academic exercise. Once “Carrion Seller” kicks in, the listener realizes that the call-and-response song structure is something of a formula. Fortunately, closer “Occultation” varies the formula, feeling more like a slow burn than a riff/fiddle conversation.

Monograf should feel secure in their new, metal-adjacent specialization. Despite my criticism of Occultation’s repetitive songwriting, its 40-minute runtime invites repeat visitations of its alluring soundscape. Fans of drone and doom should especially take notice. While its folk-infused heaviness is not an intervention on par with the most recent Wyatt E. release, Occultation skillfully balances hypnotism and memorability in its riffwork. On monograph three, I suspect that Monograf will inch closer to the oasis in the desert that is the tenure track.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nordic Mission
Websites: monograf.bandcamp.com/ | facebook.com/monografband | instagram.com/monografband
Releases Worldwide: November 14th, 2025

#2025 #30 #antestor #doomMetal #drone #folk #godspeedYouBlackEmperor #monograf #nordicMission #norwegianMetal #nov25 #occultation #om #opeth #overheadProductions #postRock #progressiveMetal #review #reviews #wyattE

#godspeedyoublackemperor #cafe #coffee

They shall rise again - #TheNightOfTheLivingBand and songs from bands that have returned from a hiatus for #ThursdayFiveList

1. #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor - Their Helicopters' Sing from 2012 after a 10-year hiatus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxvx85-BD4o

2. New Order - 60 Miles An Hour from 2002's Get Ready - first album in 7 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNF-MJv7bzo

3. X - Delta 88 Nightmare from 2020's Alphabetland, their first studio album in 27 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwOe-6vbjXo

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #VarietyMix Godspeed You! Black Emperor: 🎵 East Hastings #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor ▶️ 🪄 Automagic 🔊 show 📻 playlist on Spotify ▶️ Song/Cover on #Bandcamp:

East Hastings, by Godspeed You...

Mes écoutes de la semaine du 6 octobre 2025 :

#AksakMaboul, #Altered:Carbon, #AphexTwin, #TheBalkyMule, #TheBeatles, #BérurierNoir, #Carmine, #TheCure, #DedalusEnsemble, #TheEx, #FantômeJosepha, #BrigitteFontaine, #BrigitteFontaine #AreskiBelkacem, #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor, #TheHoneymoonKillers, #ByardLancaster, #Nijiumu, #Ø, #ÉlianeRadigue, #RienVirgule, #JohnSurman, #LaTène, #AnnaVonHausswolff, #ByronWestbrook

#music #record

On 9 October 2000, Godspeed You! Black Emperor released their post-rock masterpiece, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven.

"We tried to make heavy music, joyous, difficult noise that acknowledged the current predicament but dismissed it at the same time.

For us every tune started with the blues but pointed to heaven near the end, because how could you find heaven without acknowledging the current blues, right?"

01. Storm

#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor #PostRock

One of the great features of @plexamp is the "On this day" section when you load the app up.

I always try to listen to whatevers featured. As my library grows though I imagine it'll get harder and harder 😅

#PlexAmp #music #onthisdayinmusic #godspeedyoublackemperor #liftyourskinnyfistslikeantennatoheaven #postrock

#Disque du jour, bonjour !

#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor • Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (Constellation / Kranky, 2000)

25 ans, hou bordayl !

Et je viens de faire attention que le LP et le CD n'ont pas le même titre, puisque le LP s'appelle en fait "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven".

#music #PostRock #Montreal

Hey #MusicLovers
It’s time to play #SaturdayOnStage - Hit us up with your favourite live tracks.

On their last tour, #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor played their latest album (No Title…) straight through, but punctuated it with my fave track from the previous album (G-d’s Pee At State’s End), Fire At Static Valley. It takes its time building up, but, dang…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hki74TP4-20

#ThursdayFiveList #Sentencing - songs titles that are full sentences - #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor edition:

1. Rockets fall on Rocket Falls
2. We Drift Like Worried Fire
3. Piss Crowns Are Trebled
4. Bosses Hang
https://archive.org/details/gybe2018-01-19.crankingamps/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor_2018-01-19_t02.flac
5. Our Side Has To Win

#Disque du jour, bonjour !

#LandOfKush • Monogamy (#ConstellationRecords, 2010)

https://landofkush.bandcamp.com/album/monogamy

Orchestre monté par #SamShalabi avec des membres de #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor , #ShalabiEffect, #SetFireToFlames,#XarahDion #ElisabethAnjaVajagic et j'en passe de musiciens et groupes de #Montreal, pour mélange de ses deux cultures, égyptiennes et canadiennes.

#music #SupportArtists #VinylKillsStreaming #WorldMusic

All of GY!BE's discography is on their Bandcamp. :ablobcool:

https://thequietus.com/news/godspeed-you-black-emperor-remove-music-from-streaming-services/

#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor

my #BandcampFriday (when the platform pays almost 100% of the revenue to artists) acquisitions:

one of "underrated" favourites from the giants of post-rock. extremely relevant and inspiring these days:
https://godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com/album/luciferian-towers

second lp of canadian hypnotic-alt-noise-whatever pop princess Cindy Lee, who left spotify today. their last year album was a revelation for me and i bought it before, but this record also deserves praise and attention:
https://cindylee.bandcamp.com/album/whats-tonight-to-eternity

intense, raw and depressively-aggressive record of the sarcastiest dance-pop diva Kilo Kish. highly recommended for y'all closet cynics and edgelords(-ladies) who are too soft to offend people in real life:
https://kilokish.bandcamp.com/album/american-gurl

there were other records i considered to buy, but sadly found they're not on the bandcamp: Deafheaven, MØ and Turnstile newest albums are in my rotation and i hope to get them in my library sometime.

#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor #CindyLee #KiloKish

We Lost the Sea – A Single Flower Review

By Dear Hollow

How do you follow up an album born from tragedy? While the Sydney collective We Lost the Sea began as a mammoth post-metal band with standout releases like Crimea and The Quietest Place on Earth, renowned for uncompromising weight and tantalizing patience, the tragic death of vocalist Chris Torpey silenced them, taking its teeth in the process. Grief embodied its 2015 album, not devastating for the notes and tempos that commanded it, but rather what it symbolized. Comprised of instrumental elegies to failed acts of heroism and sacrifice, Departure Songs served as both a beautiful post-rock album with an intriguing theme and a knack for instrumental hooks, as well as an homage to Torpey.

Because of this, 2019 follow-up Triumph & Disaster was doomed for disingenuousness, regardless of its quality. We Lost the Sea set out on its own path in a concept album devoted to apocalypse via climate disaster, employing many of the same tricks with more bite, but to an unfocused and inconsistent degree that landed its singles in EOY territory but its supporting cast as mediocre at best. Six years later, we’re graced with A Single Flower, an ode to revolution and defiance in its trademark groove and crescendo-laden patience. Much of it lands in Post-Rock 101, in line with the likes of Mono, God is an Astronaut, and Eluvium, with steadily building crescendos as the backbone while twinkly guitars guide the journey to crunchy metallic explosions, with some ugliness for contrast. While nowhere near the likes of its early discography, A Single Flower is a welcome improvement, as We Lost the Sea distances itself from its tragic past.

If A Single Flower is Post-Rock 101, then opener “If They Had Hearts” is the syllabus. Nearly nine minutes of steadily building twinkling, with its ugly metallic hit at the end of it all being an easy highlight. But by and large, the cuts that rely on this formula run the risk of being a weaker version of “A Gallant Gentleman” from Departure Songs, (“Bloom (Murmurations at First Light)”), that their solid songwriting and gentle crescendos are derailed by excessive length’s meandering consequences. Otherwise, appearances of anachronistic instrumentals add a jolt of confusion, such as electronic beats (“Everything Here is Black and Blinding”) and industrial harshness (“A Dance With Death”). Then there’s the elephant in the room that closer “Blood Will Have Blood” is twenty-six minutes long, which is too long despite however rebellious and driving its almost punk-like rhythms suggest.

Flowery textures are post-rock’s kryptonite, but tension between harmony eeriness is where it succeeds – and A Single Flower is no exception. While the textured plucking is a motif that courses through nearly every moment, riding the line between haunting and sanguine is a signature that elevates it. This taut dynamic gives the album a much more nuanced dynamic that recalls Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with its climactic and chaotic metal apexes recalling the collisions of agony and beauty that acts like Milanku or Audrey Fall (“A Dance With Death,” the conclusion of “Everything Here is Black and Blinding”). Terse drumming and textures of noise add to that thread of ugliness that adds contrast to the more crystalline movements, a constantly shifting palette (“Blood Will Have Blood”).

We Lost the Sea has released an imperfect album that successfully distances itself from the shadow of its more iconic past. Incorporating more of a metal presence than Departure Songs while streamlining the effort beyond the inconsistent Triumph & Disaster, A Single Flower manages to balance meditation and urgency neatly. It has its moments of post-rock paper-thin crescendo-core, and there are choices within that end up being head scratchers – and I would be remiss to neglect the album’s dummy long hour and twenty runtime – but We Lost the Sea finally feels like who they wanted to be beyond tragedy and its aftermath. Thus, A Single Flower owes its staying power more to what it represents than the instruments its contributors jam on. It suggests a good trajectory – and sometimes that’s all you need.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Bird’s Robe Records
Websites: welostthesea.bandcamp.com | welostthesea.com | facebook.com/welostthesea
Releases Worldwide: July 4th, 2025

#25 #2025 #ASingleFlower #AudreyFall #AustralianMetal #BirdSRobeRecords #Eluvium #GodIsAnAstronaut #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor #Jul25 #Milanku #Mono #PostRock #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #WeLostTheSea

If there's just one #PostRock album you're willing to listen this year, make it this one:

#WeLostTheSea: A Single Flower

https://album.link/xbq3w8pt33xnz

FFO #BearTheMammoth #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor #RussianCircles

---

At the time of this toot, the album in its entirety is available only on Bandcamp. If album.link does not pick up the usual suspects automatically, I'll insert an updated link later.

#BostonWeekend 31/x POST-ROCK? - Sat - Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Roadrunner, $50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZwQeZh6rP0
https://toot.boston/@knizer/114196277725231119
#GSYBE #BostonMusic #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor #Boston

Finished listening through the GY!BE studio albums, so now listening to the very odd "demo" which, as Efrim said, has "no relation to the band that followed". Ends with a track called "perfumed pink corpses from the lips of ms. celine dion", excited to get to that one, lol. And it's from 1994! So gonna add it to my list of 1994 albums...

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - all lights fucked on the hairy amp drooling (1994)

https://godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com/album/all-lights-fucked-on-the-hairy-amp-drooling

#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor

After some nice distracting pop music, back to the sad.

GY!BE - "Luciferian Towers" (2017)

"the “luciferian towers” L.P. was informed by the following grand demands:
+ an end to foreign invasions
+ an end to borders
+ the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex
+ healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right
+ the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again"

https://godspeedyoublackemperor.bandcamp.com/album/luciferian-towers

#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor

#NowPlaying this on cassette, which has it as a single 38-minute piece, repeated on each side.

MANAS & Efrim Manuel Menuck - At House Unamerican (2023)

https://radiokhiyaban.bandcamp.com/album/at-house-unamerican

#experimental #improvisation #guitar #postrock
#EfrimManuelMenuck #GodspeedYouBlackEmperor

SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS 🕳️
#GodspeedYouBlackEmperor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55CLYupTQpQ