MONSTERS OF THE ORDINARY (On The Edge And Beyond) CD
Behind the admittedly weird name MONSTERS OF THE ORDINARY stands a young Austrian band, who already released two EP's in 2008 and 2009. I don't know both of these EP's so that 'On The Edge And Beyond' is my first encounter with MONSTERS OF THE ORDINARY. It is also the band's self-financed debut full-length, and it is evident that they made a huge effort regarding the music and the entire design. Especially the cover artwork looks pretty nice, even if it looks very similar to the one from Spain's Wolfhead. But the situation is very different with regard to the music. MONSTERS OF THE ORDINARY feel very much at home in the land, where bands like Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Life Of Agony have left their strong footprints.
In doing this, they provide a very pleasant and heavy sound, although the production could be better. It's a sterile sounding mix and this is especially true in the case of the drums. But luckily, Klaus Wurzwallner provides the additional pressure with his downtuned guitar sound. Vocalist Oliver Müller cuts a good figure behind the mic, too, due to his natural and self-confident appearance. Gruff, whiskey-soaked vocals would take far too much away from the band's sonic personality, but the clear and casual style of Oliver Müller is a perfect fit for the voluminous grooves and thick riffs.
There are, however, shortcomings in terms of songwriting. 'On The Edge And Beyond' includes 11 songs (plus a short intro) which do not differed significantly from each other. Of course, there are nuances but there are no real oustanding tracks. Too bad, because their music cries out for hits (or something similar). But fortunately there are no real low points. Hence one can say that MONSTERS OF THE ORDINARY have delivered a very solid full-length that does not need to hide. The band has room to grow and I'm pretty sure that they know how to use their own potential. Good luck, guys!
(KK)