I rarely review albums in the stoner/doom scene anymore. That is primarily because the scene is thankfully saturated with people who can knock it out of the park with such things. I still listen to full albums when they are released, but these days, especially these days, the album has to punch hard on sonic and emotional levels for me to reach for my keyboard. But that is what Neverending, the sixth studio album from Monolord, did.
Monolord – Neverending
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Sunil Singh
To be honest, that is all that Monolord knows how to do, knock you out with their alchemy of doom, melody, and deep nods to ’70s blues/psych. It was the perfect moment in their career to work with legendary producer Sylvia Massy, who worked on Tool’s groundbreaking Undertow album 33 years ago.
Sylvia Massy’s recording magic took Monolord to a higher realm of artistic expression with each instrument on point and Tomas V. Jäger’s vocals have never sounded better. It did not hurt matters that Massy’s studio in Ashland, Oregon, with its vintage vibe, gave the band a physical space to tap deep into their reservoir of songwriting talents, humanism, and collective consciousness of our planet’s plight.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the album.
Iodine
Banger opener. What else did you fuckin expect? A relatively short song that serves as an aural “amuse-bouche”, getting you primed for the whole meal of an album ahead. So many small musical delights. The almost immediate gearing of the guitars down to something fainter, but more ominous.
Then halfway through the song, it begins to bloom into the full Monolord sound, smoothly moving into that now familiar guitar tone of Tomas V. Jäger. In spite of being just a 3-minute song, everything you need to know about the band’s sound in 2026 is on display here.
You Bastard
The groove of this song is snarly and filthy, but is wonderfully paired with melodic vocals to balance out the overall complexion of this song. The dissonant guitars and drums do not compete with the soothing vocals. They both work in harmony to elevate each other.
In the end, it’s a favourable duel of heavy and light that yields a song that you can whistle and bang your head to. And man, is Esben pounding the shit out of those drums at the end. He went full Bill Ward here.
Inside A Collider
Confession. I rewound this song more than a few times before it finished. In fact, on one occasion, I started listening to the album from the beginning, fearing I was missing so many of Monolordisms.
The melodic middle, almost flirting with Rainbow-like moments, hits both softly and heavily, already showing the songwriting growth on this album. And of course, the song ends on the most beautiful guitars, with the band moving in slow, majestic unison. Dio would throw the horns in approval.
Easily could have been an album closer.
Crystal Bridge
This song feels like it was written for a swamp creature, the way it bursts out of the gates with its doom riff. But the song slowly finds its level, eventually surprising the listener with one of those beautiful moments. Think Planet Caravan, but not as gloomy.
But, before we have too much time to dwell on that, the song punches back with heaviness with the riff that opened the song. This is a perfect example of a song that meanders, but without feeling self-indulgent. It is such a tricky thing to do these days, as many bands layer a song with too many different elements for its own sake.
Monolord is intentional and dialled into the full spectrum of their musical capabilities. This song is emblematic of that.
Oozing Wound
The halfway mark of the album has a song that starts like a caged animal finally breaking free, but then it gears down to one of my favourite instrumental passages on the whole album.
“It’s the first song we’ve done in a drop tuning,” Jäger said. “We usually play in B, but Oozing Wound, You Bastard, and It’s Neverending are all drop A. Except for one part, Oozing Wound is almost the same riff all the way through. It’s repetitive, but we do different stuff with it, like remove the guitar and have just bass and drums in parts and then remove rhythm guitar when I play the solo melody.”
Very few bands I know just have that signature tone that permeates the sound of a band. In this song, it is not only evident, it struts and swaggers.
“The lyrics are about being stuck on a bad road,” Jäger said, “feeling trapped with someone who takes advantage of you.” The band is firing on all doom cylinders at this point.
The Masque
A really buoyant song that harnesses the confident vocals and just some classic rock hooks. Such a brilliant move to throw in such a song, and give the album even more texture, stretching the soundscape even more.
Invisible
This song is a great follow-up to The Masque. Similar length and similar vibe of being easy on the ears. It would have been cliché to quickly go back to something darker and gloomier. The musical and emotional balance of this album is one of the many strengths of this album.
It’s Neverending
Of course, Monolord set us up for an album finale that was going to show all the teeth and claws at its disposal, but with a surprising twist. The opening vocals, Death Metal in nature, are provided by former Entombed bassist Jörgen Sandstrom.
This is the first time a Monolord song has not had Jäger on lead vocals. To hand them over to someone else for your album closer shows a level of creativity, collaboration, and humility that few bands I know possess.
“I did the growling on the demo, but it took me forever to record,” Jäger said. “It was more like to illustrate the idea. But Jörgen’s voice is so powerful, and his performance on the song is really great.”
Jäger eventually slides his voice in, perfectly in a section that is quieter and more reflective, reprising the song’s title with a musical outro that feels eerily similar to the one in Black Sabbath’s Heaven And Hell.
“When we got the vocals finally in place, I remember I just burst into laughter,” bassist Mika Häkki said. “That was just my sincere reaction to how happy that end result made me. Jörgen must have opened some new portal of some kind with those screams!”
This is the satisfying conclusion to an album that has to be considered as Album Of The Year.
“It’s been a wild ride and still is,” drummer Esben Willems said. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished along the way, and in many ways, this album feels like the essence of everything we’ve done so far.
“My mindset is the same it’s always been, to be the absolute best the three of us can be.”
Monolord are the doom merchants that the world needs and deserves.
Monolord released Neverending on 29 May 2026 via Relapse Records. Available as multiple limited-edition vinyl variants, CD and cassette, as well as digital, for more details visit relapse.com/pages/monolord-neverending.
Monolord have expanded their U.S. tour plans, adding a late Summer leg for the East Coast. Mizmor opens the Western U.S. dates, Khemmis opens on all Eastern U.S. dates with the exception of the Muddy Roots Festival. Tickets and full dates can be found at monolord.com.
Monolord European tour dates:
May 28 Malmö, SE Plan B
May 29 Stockholm, SE Slaktkyrkan
May 30 Gothenburg, SE Monument
July 30 Ghimbav, RO Rockstadt Extreme Festival
August 7 Kortrijk, BE Alcatraz Festival
October 6 Hamburg, DE Bahnhof Pauli
October 7 Haarlem, NL Patronaat
October 8 Eindhoven, NL Effenaar
October 9 Sint-Niklaas, BE De Casino
October 10 Paris, FR La Maroquinerie
October 11 Nantes, FR Le Ferrailleur
October 12 Toulouse, FR Le Rex
October 13 Lyon, FR Jack Jack
October 14 Aarau, CH KIFF
October 15 Munich, DE Backstage
October 16 Osnabrück, DE Bastard Club
October 17 Cologne, DE Gebäude 9
November 4 Copenhagen, DK Stengade
November 5 Berlin, DE Columbia Theater
November 6 Dresden, DE Beatpol
November 7 Warsaw, PL Hydrozagadka
November 8 Krakow, PL Hype Park
November 9 Brno, CZ Kabinet Múz
November 10 Budapest, HU Dürer Kert
November 11 Vienna, AT Arena
November 12 Zagreb, HR Vintage Industrial Bar
November 13 Milan, IT Legend
November 14 Bologna, IT FreakOut
November 15 Karlsruhe, DE P8
