Review: Monad by Farer

It's always interesting when a band appears in the heavy scene that eschews the traditional instrument set up. Kylesa really stood out with their two drummer set up, the duelling tribal beats creating a hypnotic sound that make them a thrilling live act. Sunn0))) and Earth of course invented an entire new genre by dropping the drums completely, and there's a number of bands who have favoured utilising bass as the main instrument over the guitar. Bell Witch and Om are the two most notable in the doom scene, but there is also the garage-dance-punk of Death From Above 1979 and the chaotic noise rock of Lightning Bolt, a band who arguably pioneered the bass-and-drums-only set up.

There's few bands out there who go one step further and employ two bass players in their line-up. Melvins have dabbled in it recently by employing Butthole Surfers bassist Jeff Pinkus as a collaborator, and screamo legends Pg.99 at one point employed two bass players in their eight piece line-up; but both of these still kept the guitar prominently in their sound. So Farer are an interesting prospect: vocals, drums, two bassists and no guitar. It's not quite Spinal Tap playing Big Bottom, but hey, it could still be good, right?

Yeah, it's good.

I mean, it's seriously good!

This is some tremendous noisey, droney, sludgey post-metal that is heavy as hell but also extremely invigorating. Hailing from The Netherlands, Farer originally began in 2013 under the name MENHIR, but since changing their name in 2019 they've been working hard towards their debut album. Monad is a fascinating record which doesn't quite sound like anything else out there right now. There's plenty of familiar ideas here, and yet there is also an intriguingly alien nature to the band's sound.

Spanning across four sprawling tracks, Monad's basic sound from which they build upon is one of grinding bass, hypnotic drums and harrowing vocals. You'll find elements of Thou, The Body, Sumac and other groups who push the more experimental and avant-garde side of sludge metal. Opening track Farer kicks straight in to the sonic wall, the bass tone furiously fuzzy and the vocals blistering in their emotional timbre. The track breaks down and builds up a couple of times throughout, each time constructing a dense tension that releases brilliantly. In the final leg the vocals move into more atmospheric territory, providing a sparse harmonic chorus over the trudging melancholic riffs.

Asulon has a calmer demeanour to begin with, a pulsating sub-bass overlaid with sparse grizzly bass chords and gritty clean vocals. As the track kicks up a gear everything becomes a bit meaner, the bass riff simplifying to a mesmerizing single note while the drums slam away on the toms and the vocals turn to ferocious howls. The final movement is devastatingly slow and really draws you in to the grim depression, the bass leads adding a little black metal melody into the punishing doom.

Moros introduces some rather intriguing dungeon synth style sounds - the ones akin to the trumpet sound from a 90s Casio keyboard but actually have that droning atmospheric quality to them. There's some nice use of feedback and subtle synth sounds here too, plenty of droning noises and creepy effects, while the drums pound away with an almost relentless energy even when they slow down to funeral doom tempo. Despite this terrifically slow opening leg, the band kick things up a gear into the fastest section on the album, the main bass riff grooving over some hardcore tempo drums, whilst the lead bass provides an atonal melody and the vocals wail passionately in a now familiar fashion. The synths don't go away though, washing the the track in waves of reverberating ambience all the way to the rather beautiful final movement which sees every element of the song build up into a sombre cacophony.

Finally we have Elpis which begins with layers of emotive bass lead melodies and aggressive noise parts over a crushing bass chord riff that envelopes the track. It's incredibly heavy, wearing you down into submission as the vocals berate you with their withered cries. It barely lets go for five harsh minutes, before there is a slight breather as the low bass pulls away; but instead it's the vocals that turn up the volume to assault our eardrums, and when the low bass does return the combination is just devastating. The final few minutes see everything slowly and gently fade away, but just as you think there might be some quiet a sub-bass drone begins to build up and penetrate the airwaves. As the instruments fade to almost nothing, this drone develops into a ghostly howling wind that carefully closes out the album.

Monad is a stunning record that will be sure to attract fans of many of the bands I have previously mentioned. There is a brutality to it's slow tempo, a savageness to it's wall of sound and a feverish intensity to it's atmosphere. This is not an easy listen by any stretch, and if you're looking for catchy riffs and addictive hooks then you won't find it. What you will find is the sound of doom and sludge metal taken to an extreme which few bands reach with as much skill as Farer have.

Monad is released on November 20th. You can listen to the track Phanes and pre-order the digital album on Bandcamp here and for info on physical releases visit the band's Facebook page here

All images by Niels Verwijk