Mono: Hymn to the Immortal Wind

By: Ron Hart

For their fifth album and tenth anniversary, Japan’s chamber metal masters employ a massive orchestra to add strings, flutes, organ, piano, glockenspiel and tympani into their massive sound. However, the outcome of Hymn to the Immortal Wind (Temporary Residence), with all of its dramatic crescendos, might be a bit too Hans Zimmer – albeit more Dark Knight-era Hans than The Lion King-era Hans (thankfully) – for some people’s tastes.

If film score music is not your thing and you are looking for the heavier Mono material you might be better off picking up the vinyl reissue of their first two LPs for Temporary Residence – 2004’s One More Step and You Die and its wax-only companion piece, New York Soundtracks, featuring remixes by Loren Mazzacane Connors, DJ Olive and Jackie-O Motherfucker, among others, and wait until they get their orchestra fix out of the way.

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