Have The Beautiful Monument written the most powerful metal album of the year?
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26.06.2019

Have The Beautiful Monument written the most powerful metal album of the year?

Photo by Steven Cook
Words by Anna Rose

This album reminds us of the strength of women in the music industry.

He-male, she-male, everything-in-between-male – there’s been a lot of socio-political media commentary in recent times about the equality (or in some opinions, lack thereof) of women in the music industry. Musicians, producers, managers, publicists, promoters, heck, even journalists, the call for a spotlight and balanced rate of opportunity for females has been on everybody’s lips on at least one occasion – but every once in a while, something happens that renders the gender argument obsolete because your attention is pulled and fixed on the one thing that truly matters – the music.

My first encounter with The Beautiful Monument didn’t happen until a few weeks ago. Yes, I know they’ve been on the scene for some years now and I am shamefully behind the times, but after this week they’ll be on a more mainstream radar for sure. I digress.

I was sent a stream of their upcoming release, I’m The Reaper, to review. It was business as usual, until the first track began. Gone was the critical listening, laid to rest were analytical anecdotes, The Beautiful Monument rendered my music-loving self completely helpless thanks to their alt-rock leanings; vibrant metal melodies, vivacious vocals, and riotous rhythms.

‘Reaper’, a heart wrenching tribute to the late Justin Nichol, a well-loved promoter, manager and friend to many in the Aussie metal scene, ‘Kintsugi’, a rambunctious tale of wanting to change the past, single ‘Stay’ that exposes certain truths with its synthesised mixing and glowing guitars – this album stays the course of uncompromising vulnerability.

It wasn’t until after my first twenty spins of the album that I investigated the band and found this is an all-female lineup. It didn’t surprise me that Lizi Blanco, Andrea Skoumbris, Alex Henderson, and Amy McIntosh have come together in a mutual love for music and understanding of life’s trials and tribulations to create a sound so powerful, it surprised me that any consideration of their gender was rendered obsolete. The fact these are all women didn’t matter. The magic of these melodies moved me to a place I’d forgotten, one of love and appreciation and the reason why I fell in love with music in the first place. The music is what its’s about.

Women in music, bands like The Beautiful Monument, are out there. There might not be a constant glare of attention on them, but let’s not forget that it is too the duty of you as a music fan, to find the groups and support them yourselves in any way you can. As for the mainstream, there is a glimmer of hope. Hope that the music industry might one day soon thrive on the premise of incredible talent alone, because of bands like The Beautiful Monument, who will be appreciated for their hard work and insane talent regardless of what’s between their legs.

I’m The Reaper from The Beautiful Monument is out now through Greyscale Records.