Body Language

Album review

The image on the cover of Body Language perfectly depicts the sound of Monotonix: a kick drum shooting an explosion of fuzz into the sky. Starting with a single note bashed out for 30 seconds before flipping into a slithering groove, Israel's loudest band fills a six-song EP with fuzzy guitar riffs and explosive drums in a beefed up style of rock & roll that encapsulates the fervor of Stooges/MC5 style garage punk along with the powerful riffage of classic rock lords Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, and Led Zeppelin. It's a whole lotta sound and energy to come out of a mere threesome, with guitarist Yonatan Gat and drummer Ran Shimoni banging out barbaric licks to make heads bang and teeth rattle, while vocalist Ami Shalev groans, yelps, and howls spastically. In a wise choice, producer Tim Green of the Fucking Champs doesn't add any studio polish to their performances, and instead tries to capture the spirit and raw power of their live show, the band's selling point. Notoriously crazed performances of the past have involved a sweat-drenched Shalev disassembling Shimoni's kit in the middle of "On the Road," passing pieces to the audience, to which the drummer responded by climbing aboard to play a drum solo while perched on a kick drum riding the hands of the crowd. This is the sort of stunt that outshines the music, but for a band renowned as a crazed circus act, their music packs a hefty wallop, even in a short dose. More! More! More!

© Jason Lymangrover /TiVo