The standard take on Israeli trio Monotonix is that their insane live act is such a spectacle that the music doesn't matter. To a large extent it's true-- the band definitely prioritizes antics over songs, happy to let their tunes fall apart completely if it means singer Ami Shalev can jump off a balcony or drummer Ran Shimoni can "play" his kit on top of the audience. There's so much to watch at their gigs that once the dust settles, it's hard to remember what you heard. So seeking out Montonix albums after seeing them live is kind of like wanting to know what music was playing at a circus.
The funny thing is, if you think of them more as carnival souvenirs than art, Monotonix's records are actually pretty good. If you only want to hear progressive ideas or original sounds, you probably can live without them. But considering that this is devoutly derivative garage rock, there's more going on in these tunes than you might imagine. And, most surprisingly, the band's sound has already evolved in the span of just two releases.
Their debut Drag City EP, 2008's Body Language, mined classic hard-rock and metal, often heading directly for Black Sabbath territory. Where Were You When It Happened?-- deemed an LP even though it's only five minutes longer-- is grittier and grimier, lying somewhere along the crayoned line that connects the pre-punk blues damage of the Stooges to the scummy grunge of Mudhoney. Where Shalev previously preferred an Ozzy moan, here he has more of an Iggy howl, and it dovetails nicely with guitarist Yonatan Gat's crunchier tone. There's even a moment during the album's best track, "Set Me Free", where the pair unite in a vocal-and-feedback whine that's as mesmerizing as anything the band does onstage.
Outside of that highlight, the album gets by primarily on sped-up energy. Tunes like the riff-riot "Flesh and Blood", the swinging "I Can't Take It Anymore", and the rolling Mudhoney-rip "Spit It on Your Face" all sound a little faster, a little tighter, a little more manic than they rightfully should. Even the more down-tempo "Something Has Dried" has a tautness akin to the Jesus Lizard's forays into slow slobber. The band does eventually run out of steam, ending with two weak attempts to add variety and texture through forced crescendos and meditative duets. But aside from those experiments, Where Were You has one crucial thing in common with the Monotonix stage act: it's a lot of fun.
Again, there's nothing genuinely new here, and the influences are so obvious I would bet that even someone who hasn't heard music like this before could quickly smell the band's debt to its predecessors. But just as you'd have to be made of stone not to enjoy at least some part of a Monotonix gig, anyone who likes garage rock would have to be an obstinate stickler for originality not to enjoy the best parts-- that is, the majority-- of Where Were You When It Happened?
