Monotonix

***Over the past five years, MONOTONIX have built up a reputation around the world for their lovably stupid antics in concert, as they cheerfully rage through the audience, sharing every last drop of sweat with the crowd, inviting everyone in attendance to make it happen along with the band. One might think that the music would be secondary to such spectacle, but the secret of Monotonix is that the songs are what drive the show, tight, powerful and committed. On their previous EP, LP and 7” single releases, these songs were presented as the still burning residue of their live magic—but the music has a life of its own. Not Yet, the second Monotonix full-length album, focuses the band’s energy like a beam, searing away everything extraneous, leaving only the essentials. Monotonix are kicking it with pure, slamming rawness from start to finish on Not Yet, with short and fast songs, direct to the point; YONATAN’s riffs, doubled up and driving forward, HAGGAL rattling jaws with blow after blow on the kit as AMI sings and screams of you and me, of the thrill and dismay of too much, of action and release, his voice almost swallowed in the din but cutting through with the rigor of a scalpel and the fury of a fanatic. These enhancements are due in some degree to Monotonix recording with Steve Albini. They booked time at Electrical, then went about writing the music back in Tel Aviv in between tour runs. While writing the songs, they cut to the chase, feeling the joy in the bones of the songs and the way they fit together. This made working on the record very easy and fun. The finished sound is trembling with distortion, screaming with release. Even the extended break on “Late Night” is a surging, rhythmic outing—one that conveys the very real qualities of Monotonix in an inspired performance Not Yet is the livest, loudest, most focused set of songs and sounds that we and Monotonix can have. The question you have to ask yourself is, if Not Yet, then when? (STREET DATE - 1/25/2011)