Review Summary: And Eternity in an Hour (well, 57 minutes)
And so begins the next chapter of Mono’s 12-year long identity crisis. 2009’s seminal
Hymn to the Immortal Wind proved to be both a blessing and a curse to the Japanese quartet. On one hand they could claim to have a bone-fide post-rock classic in their catalogue; on the other, it became the seemingly insurmountable standard by which every subsequent release would be weighed and found wanting. This time around, many critics have praised
Pilgrimage of the Soul for being a purer and more distilled album, a sign of a band more than 20 years into their game having grown in confidence through their willingness to embrace restraint. However it’s also possible to interpret this as exactly the opposite - as fear. Mono desperately want you to feel
something, but it’s as if they’re anxious to try. By attempting to manipulate our emotions by leaning heavily into subtlety and ambience, we’re sadly left with very little substance at all.
Many of the tracks present here simply go nowhere: ‘Heaven in a Wild Flower’, ‘The Auguries’, and ‘And Eternity in an Hour’ take you on a journey of circles, looping aimlessly through the same few notes with nothing more than gentle swells to hold your attention, once again largely delivered by a backing orchestra. When the instrumentation does take centre stage, as in opener and lead single ‘Riptide’, it suffers from the same abrasive character that plagued 2016’s
Requiem for Hell.
As ever, there are glimmers of hope. Asides from the snare often being way too high in the mix, Steve Albini's production sounds gorgeous. ‘Fragile Things’ is the most interesting and energised MONO have sounded in a decade, embracing an electronica-style loop that builds as all members of the band eventually step in. It frustratingly doesn’t deliver on its full potential, as you cry out for Mono to go that extra step and really make us feel it.
With little promise of reward from future listens,
Pilgrimage of the Soul currently stands to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year.
