Album of the Week: Monument by Angels & Agony

After a near decade long absence from the music scene (try eight years), one of my personal favorite futurepop bands Angels and Agony finally returned with a new album earlier this year titled Monument. As a long time fan, I have been waiting for new music by this band for way too long so for me Monument was worth the long wait. When I first listened to the new album I couldn't help but compare them to another favorite band of mine Solitary Experiments. Both bands have a knack for creating really catchy futurepop songs that gets easily stuck in my head.

Monument is a great album but it isn't without its flaws. The instrumental "The Story So Far" for me was tedious to listen to as was "Journey". I suppose I could call "The Story So Far" an intermission in between songs. The album did start off with some super catchy, club-friendly EBM tracks but following "The Story So Far", the pace of the songs started to slow down. Of course I took to the first six tracks on the album like white on race but from 7-11, I needed to spend time listening to the songs. Eventually I grew to love songs like "Omen","Sinner", and "The Road Not Taken" after listening to them a dozen more times. I really wanted to like "Journey" but the lyrics came off cliched for me, not to mention gave me the impression they were trying to be the next VNV Nation.

Flaws aside, I love Monument enough to make it my album of the week. I have been a fan of the band for a decade now and to see them return with new music makes me happy. I definitely recommend to listen to this album especially the title track which is a killer opening track. I hate using the word "epic" but it definitely fits perfectly with the song. The first six tracks are absolutely fantastic in my book and worth hearing. I just wished that the band kept that momentum going through out the album instead of turning down the notch. That said, Monument is one of the few 2015 releases that I have heard this year so far that I enjoy listening to, so check it out.