Monolord

Formed in Gothenburg in 2013, Monolord continues the lineage of doom metal and Scandinavian psychedelic stoner with a slow, massive and melodic sound built around heavily saturated riffs, a thick bass and vocals that are often more airy than upfront. The original trio—Thomas V. Jäger, Mika Häkki and Esben Willems—quickly released Empress Rising (2014) and Vænir (2015), two records that established Monolord’s identity between the heaviness inherited from 1970s heavy metal, hypnotic slowness and acid-tinged atmospheres. With Rust (2017), No Comfort (2019) and Your Time to Shine (2021), Monolord gradually tightened their songwriting without losing the expansive, immersive character of their compositions. Their music rests on a balance of repetition, tension and melodic clarity, with tracks alternating long, gradual buildups in density and more direct formats. Regularly appearing on doom, stoner and heavy psych stages in Europe and North America, Monolord cultivates a hazy, dense and organic aesthetic that is both weighty and highly structured.