Imonolith is a brand new band that is a culmination and ultimately a result of the love of music that features drummer Ryan ‘RVP’ Van Poederooyen (Devin Townsend Project) guitarist Brian ‘Beav’ Wadell (Devin Townsend Project), Jon Howard (Threat Signal), guitarist Kai Huppunen (Methods of Mayhem, Noise Therapy) and Scott Whalen (Econoline Crush). While the list sounds like an all-star collection of musicians that has an impressive musical resume which can sometimes end up resulting in a disappointing outcome, here Imonolith do the opposite and focus on what matters the most – the music. “State Of Being” is the debut album and we think a start of something bigger to come.
I first heard of Imonolith a little more than a year ago when drummer Ryan ‘RVP’ Van Poederooyen revealed a new project after the break-up of Devin Townsend Project. Being a fan of his work, I followed it through and more than a year later after a couple of teasers and previews as well as a chat to the drummer himself very early on in the project (read here), we finally see the full-length debut in sight and it’s a fantastic piece of work. There’s always hesitation with so called “supergroups” and while the resume of these musicians is fantastic, it never truly felt like Imonolith needed the supergroup tag attached to their name and the first single that was released over a year ago “Hollow” was proof of that.
“Hollow” really is the perfect lead-in track off the album and a great way to give an idea of what to expect even though the album does offer so much more in the way of musical variety and stylistic differences. It’s modern heavy hook and anthemic nature bridges the gap between the band’s melodic and heavy side and there’s plenty of both on the album. “Becoming The Enemy” represents probably the best of the blending of those elements with nice grooves and melodies laying underneath the growls of vocalist Jon Howard who does a great job of providing both the harsher and cleaner vocal styles found through out the songs.
Going through the tracks even further, like mentioned before there’s a lot of variety and it switches from song to song and sometimes even with the songs themselves. “Instinct” is a melodic heavy rocker but also features a bit of an industrial style breakdown midway while “Mourning” is just a catchy and bouncy track led by the solid backbeats of RVP. “Dig” though has to be one of the highlights of the album and probably my pick as the most fun song to listen to, borrowing a bit of that Pantera and Meshuggah heavy feel.
“Forgone” provides some of that old Devin Townsend atmospheric prog side of the band but the Devin connection musically speaking starts and stops here for those curious as to whether that would become a thing on State Of Being”. For the thrashier stuff though, it’s hard to get past “The Reign” featuring Jen Kidman of Meshuggah where blast beats, breakdowns and speedier tempos run the gauntlet making this a moshpit instigator at their live shows.
The remaining songs on the album including “We Never Forget” is very much on the hooky melodic side of things and almost gives you a sense of what their signature sound could be. The fact that Imonolith blend heavy and melodic so well here is also a winning combination that works perfectly but it’s the hooks that keep you wanting more of it. “State Of Being” is a huge first release for a band that clearly has utilised their experience to showcase the potential of this band, this is just the beginning and we look forward to seeing what comes next.
9/10
TRACKLIST
State of Being
Becoming The Enemy
Instinct
Dig
The Mourning
Forgone
Breathe
The Reign
We Never Forget
Hollow
Persevere
