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MØNSTRØID Premiere “Lost in the Haze” Video; New Album in the Works

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 6th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

monstroid

There is a date-stamp on the top right corner of the VHS/camcorder-looking video for the new single from South African four-piece MØNSTRØID, and I can’t help but wonder to what it might be alluding. Their first album, Set 1, was self-released in 2017, so obviously that wouldn’t have much to do with 1994, and though that indeed is the year Kyuss released Sky Valley, that record came out in June 25 years ago, not December. Fu Manchu‘s first record was earlier in ’94 as well. So what’s Dec. 8? Maybe someone’s birthday?

I’m sure there’s a perfectly rational explanation for the choice — or at least an explanation, rational or not — but I don’t know what it is. Fun to speculate though, and the hooky, driving desert-style heavy rock of “Lost in the Haze” makes for easy company while pondering. The song is the opening track of Set 1 and speaks to MØNSTRØID‘s general songwriting modus operandi, their focus on straightforward, ’90s-style desert idolatry, guided by riffs toward the inevitable chorus impression of cuts like “Shake Down” and “Navigator,” the latter of which turns its defining Kyuss influence into more of a Roadsaw vibe, though “Life Lost” adds more atmosphere and chug in kind and “My Mind” slows things down — my mind would — ahead of the tempo revival in “Cruiser” and the instrumental closer “’80s TV Show,” which is one of two sans-vocal inclusions along with the earlier “Rocket.”

The band readily acknowledge their influences as you can see in the quote below, and indeed, as the clip for “Lost in the Haze” finds them out in the desert, magically rocking without amps as one might have in a mid-’90s era video, they would seem to pay homage on multiple levels. Kind of curious that the clip would come out some two years after the album it’s promoting, but hell, I missed the record the first time it came out, so I’ll take it however it comes, and they’ve got a new one in the works, so all the better.

Do you think they’ll call it Set 2?

Enjoy:

MØNSTRØID, “Lost in the Haze” official video premiere

Cape Town based stoner/desert rock band MØNSTRØID have released the video for their track Lost In the Haze, taken from their 2017 debut album Set 1.

Shot in both South Africa and the Namibian desert the band comments on the video, “We love where we live, and we wanted to position the Western regions of Southern Africa as the African counterpart to California’s desert rock scene, from where we draw so much inspiration. The video puts the band driving through it. From the dried-up desert pans, to the water flowing out of rocks sustaining life when all around it is dry, to the semi desert where the water flows freely. All the vast desert beauty we should celebrate.”

MØNSTRØID is the love child of 4 dudes from Cape Town, born out of a deeply shared appreciation for writing, making and sharing tectonic plate-shifting music. From the rumbling depths emerges a melodic molten soundscape. From the skies a flaming fireball of fuzz. MØNSTRØID resides where these forces collide. For lovers of growling guitars, distorted groove laden bass, melodic vocals and exploding drums of thunder.

The band are in studio at the moment working on their new album which is set to release early 2020.

MØNSTRØID, Set 1 (2017)

MØNSTRØID on Thee Facebooks

MØNSTRØID on Instagram

MØNSTRØID on Bandcamp

MØNSTRØID website

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