Mona De Bo – Nekavējies, Šīs ir Spēles ar Tevi

Mona De Bo are an experimental rock duo from Riga, Latvia who use other various musicians and instruments including organ, trombone and french horn on "Nekave-jies, Ši-s ir Spe-les ar Tevi" which is their second full length release. This is a dark, atmospheric album that ranges from the ambient to the very noisy and will most likely appeal to fans of bands like Earth but Mona De Bo take a very different approach while still retaining the dark, brooding, droning elements. The album is a emotionally draining and a challenging album to listen, complex in terms of the various atmospheres it creates. First track, "Vini Aiziet Saule" starts with spiritual guitar work, french horns and spacey organ work which gradually builds to a fuzz-drenched wall of sounds complete with some over-powering drum work. A great way to start the album and one that sums up the whole album really, combining light and total dark atmospheres that seamlessly melt together. At times it sounds like a drone version of Pink Floyd while at other times it shifts into a Mahavishnu Orchestra type of Jazz Fusion vibe and yet at the same time, the mood is kept very doomy.

Second track "Priekspedejais" pushes the drone come noise factor up a notch, the moods on this track switch from being haunted to the more reflective and this is a great piece of masterful, ambient song-writing. "Speles Ar Tevi" is a bit un-eventful at first but soon builds into a epic, ever changing emotional draining soundscape that seems much shorter than its extended running time. "Dejosim" is the heaviest, most Doom Metal sounding track on the album. It starts off with low-end drones and soon mutates itself into a cavalcade of ambient noise that is both suffocating and spine-chilling. Its also a very long track that seems much shorter than it is due to the ever changing sound textures and moods, the track basically conjures up feelings of a claustrophobic nature. "Vestijums" is a more uplifting track that blends together a Jazz Fusion improvisation style with low-end drones, totally original in every way but that is pretty much the nature of the entire album.

On "Un Dienas Istums Neizdziest" again you can hear Mona De Bo perfectly blending light with shade, happiness with extreme sadness into a musical portrait of intense, ever-changing moods which is like life itself. The final track pulls out all the stops, "Lielo Koku Ena" is a 20 minute plus titanic battle of sounds. From light ambient sections to intense droning passages, this track is a album in itself. Dense, thick orchestrated type of drone sections move into free-flowing jammy passages and its all multi-layered to perfection. Sitting through the entire 20 minutes is a effort but worth it in the long run. "Nekave-jies, Ši-s ir Spe-les ar Tevi" is a highly involved, complex journey into a different kind of Droning Doom that hasn't been done quite like this before, the incredibly high production values and the mind-blowing musicianship come together to make the album a essential listen for fans of Sunn O))), Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine and Earth. Better still the album is up for free download, see their page for details but strap on the headphones for full effect. 8/10

www.myspace.com/monadebo