Let’s begin with the end: Despite illustrious and most of all manifold competitors (of course more Beggars opera than Richard Harris or even Donna Summer) ETHEREAL ARCHITECT get away with MacArthur Park without to tank. Instead we get a fresh, crispy and stirring reinterpretation, which does not kick the classic from its podium but also does not adulate the song either. No, this song is an excellent closure for a notable record.

Which starts with a drumbeat. Better: with a double-bass thunderstorm. ETHEREAL ARCHITECT accelerate properly and are downright teachable Power Metal kids. Symphonic or progressive elements respectively can be found in the choirs, numerous keyboard passages, which does not plaster the sound but enrich, and of course cleverly added tricky parts and breaks, which give an additional kick to the already complex but still highly melodious music. Headbanging music scientists should find great pleasure in listening to Monolith. But not only those ones.

Because ETHEREAL ARCHITECT know all about musical economy. The sound is resonant but never overloaded. Choirs and layered vocals serve as accentuation and don’t drown the music in theatrical dramatic art. Besides, Adam Contreras is a pleasantly unspectacular singer. He doesn’t need screams and high-strung shouts to add another effect to the dynamic music.

As it happens so often with heavier music, most impressing are those parts, where the band slows down pace, to stock up on power at rest for the next eruption. Then they even succeed in the major challenge: a un- embarrassing, balladesque guitar solo (Obsidian).

Monolith is an all-round well-done record, which takes “metal” in combination with “progressive” seriously. That way ETHEREAL ARCHITECT can go on.