Molchat Doma
Monument
Release Date: Nov 13, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Dance, Goth Rock, Cold Wave
Record label: Sacred Bones
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Album Review: Monument by Molchat Doma
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Belarusian cold wave trio Molchat Doma had a breakthrough year in 2020, as their first two albums were reissued by Sacred Bones and their song "Sudno (Boris Ryzhy)" became a surprise hit through the power of social media. They were set to make their North American touring debut when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing them to stay in Minsk, their hometown, and finish working on their third album. Just as second album Etazhi was a step up from the band's murky debut S Krysh Nashikh Domov, in terms of both recording fidelity and songwriting, Monument sounds much brighter and more polished, and contains some of their most hook-filled songs to date.
Based on rating 4
You couldn't come up with a more fitting album title for Belarus trio Molchat Doma if you tried. Many great Eastern European artists have alluded to the majesty associated in working with stone. The prodigious filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, in his memoirs, poetically described his craft as “sculpting in time”. El Lissitsky's much imitated 1924 photo assemblage, the one that came to define the Constructivist art movement and kickstarted collage's dominance within creative circles, is entitled The Constructor, whilst pitiable hero Ivan Denisovich toils in construction at a forced labour camp in Solzhenitsyn's literary masterwork.
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