It's rare that I find a record that truly stuns me, an album that leaves me pick up my jaw from the floor, trying to wrap my head around something that may have shaken what I perceive music can be. Yet with The Last Dawn Mono manage to do exactly that. This band are doing something that is simply mind bending, a mix of dark and light that few other bands can imitate. They are more than a mere instrumental rock group, they tap into the depths of the soul and allow us to find something greater about ourselves. In other words Mono might have just broken my mind.
The album starts off with Land Between Tides and glory which features a strange, sort of atonal guitar line that gently weeps over top of a simmering layer of simmering noise. As the solo gets gradually more melodic you start to see a hole open up before you, so you dive in. Once Mono have let you in to their strange reality their is no coming out. You look from side to side, first you see the mastery that is Cyclone, then the beautiful Elysian Castles. When it is at last time for The Last Dawn you are ready, open to find a new way forward, you may not have been able to this song at the beginning of the album, but now you can freely dive into the records sequel, Rays of Darkness which I will be reviewing next week.
Simply put, with The Last Dawn Mono have created one of those records that's a full sensory experience. It wraps around you and holds you captive, this is more than just an album, it is exposing us to the very souls of the musicians behind it. There is something deeply personal, yet also strangely universal about The Last Dawn which allows it to creep into your consciousness and stand tall as a veritable ode to all we hold holy. This record is going to break your paradigms and force you to re-evaluate a lot of things, so go out and buy it, it might be the album of the year.
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