The third LP from the German independents, Amnesia sits in the middle of an venn diagram constituting of a daft amount of spheres. Whilst directly inspired by the likes of Rolo Tomassi, The Ocean and Between The Buried And Me, here, Monosphere infuse their sound with motifs of post-metal, prog, tech-metal, post-rock and even metalcore in order to create something that’s genuinely quite chameleonic in approach. Should one imagine the bands aforementioned coalescing with the likes of Hippotraktor, Silent Planet, Cult of Luna and The Faceless then they probably won’t be too far off from what this record sounds like.
Now, yes, this all does sound quite convoluted. Dare say a bit messy. Many a band in this area of music have aimed for this kind of genrephobic approach – not all have been successful in reaching their targets. But Amnesia is concise and approachable. Whilst this record may not be as a musically labyrinthine as the records that came before it, Monosphere have essentially cut the fat from their sound on this record in order to present a more accessible and digestible slice of heavy experimentalism. Essentially, if you’re into any of the bands previously referenced or a fan of the more heavy and techy artists hosted by the likes of ArcTanGent, you’ll find plenty to adore here.
With that in mind, and with Amnesia released tomorrow independently, stream the record exclusively early and dig into the track by track below.
Collapse
Instead of creating an intro for our album, we’re kickstarting it right away with this track. Heavy layers, influences from Cult Of Luna to The Faceless, The Zenith Passage, as well as the typical trademarks that have shaped the sound of Monosphere within the last 5 years. This track has it all and felt like a perfect opener for Amnesia, that technically started with our 2025 double-single Lapse – which now functions as a prologue to the album.
Anomia
I’d say ‘Anomia’ is a prototypic Monosphere song. We’re tangling so many genres and influences on this one that it feels like we’re shapeshifting each 8 bars, but somehow hold it together with our musical integrity. The breakdown that ends this track might be one of the ugliest ones we’ve ever written and our producer Justin really nailed the mix.
Nadir
This song is basically a mixture of my love for post-black metal and the groove-focused prog / metalcore influences that we’ve had from day one on. It’s also a third part to our double-single Lapse and picks up many ideas, motifs and elements that we’ve already showcased before. One of the album’s strongest tracks and the first single we dropped – for a reason.
Allusion
A track that started as an experiment and works as an etude that is never meant to be played live. I felt incredibly inspired by György Ligeti’s first piano Etude called ‘Desordre’ and tried to adapt the ideas and challenges into something that will work as a bridge to the next song. Could be that many people won’t get why this track is on the record and what we’re doing with it, but let me tell you: it’s the centre of everything and so well-thought out that we have to go more into detail at another point.
Limbic
This song picks up the rhythmical ideas and elaborates them further. Might be one of the heaviest songs on the records with an interplay of groove and heavy deathcore-ish blast beats, also a fun one to play live.
Idiomorph
The second part to Limbic and its counterpoint. This one is all about emotion, trying out new influences and beats. Kevin’s strongest vocal performance to date if you ask me. Apart from this there’s a looooot of atmosphere, vibes and a pop-appeal that we’ve barely had on any of our releases before.
Zenith
Things are getting a bit more experimental on the second half of the record and Zenith really shows our early djent / progressive metalcore roots. Apart from that: this song features one of the dreamiest clean sections we’ve done, some weird proggy tweaks here and there and a breakdown that takes no prisoners at all. Weird track to play live, as the tempo feels odd, however the riffs are some of the most intricate we’ve written so far.
Engram
This track was the fire that ignited ‘Dissolve’ and can be seen as the first part of a quadrilogy. It’s a rather simple track, a typical bridge, but as worthy as every track on the album, as it ties things together.
Dissolve
We could have cut this track down into three parts, but decided to not do it that way. Take this song as a journey that will sum up most of the ideas that have been brought to the table on our third album. This track has it all: some of the nastiest vocals we’ve ever done, some of the grooviest parts, as well as a crushing ending and a great vocal feature by Mark Garrett from Kardashev. If you like this track, you’ll love what we’ve done in the past and what we’ll do in future.