The Monstrous Blues - Colourblind

[Jeb]

BEAT MAGAZINE
By Dieter Kraus

Debut album that follows highly acclaimed ep from some of Wollongong`s most respected musicians. Known for walls of guitar live, theres much on the line with this release.

Opening track is title proper. Rough guitar stroke in straight time is backing vocal line strong. Full hammer drops after a minute, chorus repeated and becomes catchy. There is heritage fine here, remember warm fuzz tones and holistic riff boom with plenty of bottom end. Yeah it`s a good opener. “Podium” conatins up front zip, riff repitition, and also complex flowing drum work. Builds and ebbs and carves a unique path that does a better job with plenty of volume. “This is the Summer” is a ditty with washed outdoor flavours, that is better hummed, laid back. MonBlues do this well, good to witness some diversity. This band can full pedal anytime, but flavours rendered in this vein are handeled with great success. “Gotta Belong” continues in this form. Rounded edges to solid songwriting complements the textures, which are added weight to with intensity on chorus. Gear changes here make all the difference. “Dolby B” begins with tape wind back D90 style. The guitar tone here hits the mark for a short number. “System Eminating Complex Impluse” sees the tempreture rise along with the tempo. Thunderous drumming helps build a wall of sound large. Repeated vocal line aids to transportational qualities. Guitar warped jangle gets a looking into with “Lost”. Time breaks here give rise to some fresh air like slices of ice on a hot head. This band started on high with an ep release, all indicators are that this is a pretty fine album. Tempo remains high on guitar charge thru “Blemished” but maintains a gritty freindly edge. 70`s rifforgy with flared edges on all sides combine with rock abandon and relentless energy in a crushing display of a kickarse good time. “Shin Ei” contains a dry and rasping geetar line that packs a mean oi and melds it into the bizzare.

Monblues have come up with the goods. And it`s really rocking, with lot`s o bottom end, modified groove, killer in the water and on land, needs a cut and polish, got a bit of rust, but mate it runs like a dream.

[Jeb]

STONERROCK.COM
By Rob Wrong

Monstrouse Blues from Australia are at it again! Colourblind is everything I have liked from these cats in the past, but with a tighter production and the musicianship has been turned up a notch.

The song writing on their latest 'Colourblind' is still rock and roll heaviness tinged in punk rock and psychedelic goodness, but you can tell that the songwriting has developed a bit and the songs are all very well written on this one. It's full on dual guitar rock with pop/melodic anthemic vocals and pure energy.

Throughout this CD the two guitar parts play off of each other constantly and is definitely one of the highlights of this record. These guys have a natural knack for throwing together pop hooks with punk and also make most of the tunes heavy and driving keeping your head banging along with the beat. Their are plenty of weird time tempo changes but not strange enough or too abstract where it confuses the listener. Kudos on the songwriting for sure!

If you dig everything from The Stooges and MC5 to Queens of the Stone Age and have an open mind, check out the latest Monstrous Blues...there are so many good elements involved it's hard to walk away from this one dissapointed.

[Jeb]

Do any of you Sydney people have the issue of revolver magazine that the review of this album was in, if so, message me.Thanks.

[Jeb]

From I94Bar.com

COLOURBLIND - The Monstrous Blues (High Beam)
Just over an hour south of Sydney, Wollongong used to be a rich breeding ground for bands of all complexions. While Tumbleweed might have been its most famous 1990s export, there were plenty of others who never made it out of the 'Gong. With the general decline in venues in the '90s, the sheen seemed to fade from Steel City. Recent evidence seems to indicate things are looking up. Exhibit A: This long player from The Monstrous Blues.

Well-named they are, too, with an intriuging mix of bluesy garage and grunge (is that a dirty word?) While their first effort, the "High Octane" EP received scads of airplay on the National Yoof Network, this should be the one that cracks things wide open.

There's elements of everything here. Punks' energy marries a vaguely psychedelic wave of guitars. Simple riffs over the top of rock solid grooves, a developed sense of melody and catchy songs. Vocalist Jason Betschwar can carry a tune and his guitar work with fellow six-stringsman Paul Hausmeister is taught and tonally rich. Together, they wrap sounds around a song like "System Emanating Complex Impulse" (try saying that five times fast) and bring it to its rave-up conclusion. Like Mudhoney with manners and less leakage.

"Shin ei" is a dirty guitar instrumental raver with sparse accompaniment (and a hint of '80s snare sounds.) Penultimate cut "Muztard" also takes the instrumental path too and goes interesting places. (It's listed as the final track but is followed by an untitled piece of whacked-out studio experimentation). The title track "Colourblind" is as catchy as sin with a noisy hook. "Podium", with its steady, layered build up and lyrical mysteries, sticks long after the last chord has faded. "Waterlogged" doesn't quite work but shows a band willing to strike out over new rhythmic ground.

Here, and elsewhere, marks go to the engine room of Stephen O'Brien (drums) and Simon Dalla Pazza. They're great players who unobtrusively get on with the business at hand. Production is by High Beam's virtual in-house producer, Russell Pilling, and his touch (a live sounding mix with ample transparency) suits this material down to the ground.

There aren't too many avenues for airplay in the 'Gong these days (the lamentable local radio stations going the way of programmed puff) but while a label like High Beam is taking a punt, bands like The Monstrous Blues will find a way to be heard. Did I mention the cover art is in babyshit brown? But, hey, blue would have been too obvious. - The Barman

[Jeb]

From Mono.net

Monstrous Blues
Colorblind - Album
Review By : Andrew White

First off I’d just like to say – what a damn fine rocking album this is. The debut by Wollongong band The Monstrous Blues, “Colourblind” really surprised me big time. At first I thought this was going to be your ‘same old, same old’ standard rock collaboration, and even after my first brief listen I was still slightly ambivalent in my thoughts on the record, but once you go through it a few times you can’t help but become addicted. To give you a ‘lil bit of background on the guys, the fellows from The Monstrous Blues have been, or are still in, such bands as Ventolin, The Merkins, The Unheard, and most notably Tumbleweed, so while this is their debut long player as a joint group, it’s not like they haven’t got a dash of experience under their belts. This certainly shows too, with such an accomplished heavy rocking grunge (with a touch of everything else) style sound emanating from the band in this latest piece of work, the follow up to their “High Octane” EP.

Title track “Colourblind” kicks off the goodness, with an unusually soft opening before The Monstrous Blues’ true colours reveal themselves, and we’re blasted out with some 2 minutes of pure and solid rock, that’s undeniably catchy. A bit of a Nirvana influence unquestionably shows through here as the guys scorch out “I’ve got you, I’ve go you colourblinding me…,” not that this is a bad thing.

“The local” is a rather seamless continuation of the latter track, with no stop-gap in between songs, something more bands should do. It works well too, with the two songs almost merging as one, and this trend continuing throughout the record, leaving little time to catch your breath so to speak. “Come on down, come on down…to the local, yeah-eeeaahhheheh” they wallow at you in a blasé bit of rock-style nonchalance, that’s often associated with the supposedly long dead grunge type sound. Then there’s “podium,” the punchy little number that has a beat to die for. “Gotta belong” is an appealing rock-out of sorts, that could well have you singing along to the melodious sounds of “I gotta-gotta-gotta belong!”
“And I’m not gonna get screwed again/And I’m not gonna get down by fault/And I’m gonna keep my head so high…” vocalist Jason Betschwar hammers out.

Track six is a guitar driven 90 seconds of noise, which builds slightly. This changes up the pace to act in contrast as we’re lead into “System emanating complex impulse,” where you’re instantly hit with a beefy beat that’ll get your toes a tappin’ and ya head nodding – “There’s gonna be another day like this, traction slips and your holding out for more” the guys pummel out at ya repeatedly. The heavy drum work and catchy guitar riffin’ beat of “waterlogged” is enough to make it the best track on the record, with its crescendo-like upsurges in the beginning, some great vocals interspersed between the heaviness, and the coarsely cries “water logged my veins, images keep stall’n blank, and ya see him again…”

“Lost” is the gravelly, rasping, slightly gloomy number that gets better as it goes on, and is followed by “blemished,” a song probably more comparable to punk/rock, to some extent green day like in it’s beginning, but thereafter quite different. At number twelve is the dawdling, soul searching grunge rock of “high roller,” an 8-minute long piece of music, that is your epic slow moving wail-fest, beginning with a somewhat depressingly sounding softness, but manufacturing itself into this heavy, guitar guided finale of sorts.

There’s no hidden secret as to why these guys sound good. Admittedly, as a fan of the “grunge/garage rock” style I may be a little biased towards bands like The Monstrous Blues, however there’s not too much you could seriously fault here. They’re not out and out heavy, but they’re heavy enough for my liking and with their blend of rock, grunge, metal, and a little of everything really, this ain’t a bad record at all. Not everything they try works however, it isn’t perfect by any means, and there are a few useless tracks on the end of it, and one in the middle. But it’s good to hear some less commercialised music, which maintains that live feel to it. It’s simple, catchy rock, with some awesome guitar and drum work that’s worth a special mention. And that’s about all there is too it. The future looks bright.

[Jeb]

From Blunt Magazine

[matty]

Iv`e Listened to this time & time again and can`t stop it,it`s like rock`n`roll force dragging me in,and away from everything else I am intrested in,in life,apart from my own band,I love the way that "The Local" blasts in directly after "Coulorblind" it gets me goin` every time,good job fellas,well done on a legend CD.