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MONSTER MAGNET
Last Patrol

Napalm (2013)
Rating: 8/10

For stoner rock veterans Monster Magnet, their tenth studio album brings back the healthy bit of psychedelic 60s garage rock that the space cadets staked their claim on in the 90s.

Hailed as a return to form, Last Patrol is certainly getting a lot of much deserved attention for the boys often hailed as one of the hardest working bands in rock ’n’ roll. The album comes complete with space oddity style concepts inspired by B-movies, comic books and healthy love for the dirtier side of rock ’n’ roll.

The album kicks off with a whimper instead of a bang, hauntingly creeping its way to life with the slow build of ‘I Live Behind The Clouds’. The vintage guitars and amps used here sound their best on this one, the warm tones keeping the song moving as vocalist Dave Wyndorf gently moans the lyrics. Modern technology would stagnate this song in a heartbeat. The song comes to a massive climax though, leading us into the plodding title track. ‘The Last Patrol’ sets the standard that the rest of the album will follow with its punchy rhythm sound and pissy guitars topped off by the hollow vocals Wyndorf is known for.

This album gets grittier and grittier as it goes, only allowing you to take a breath here and there. ‘Hallelujah’ is a rock ’n’ roll revival that should remind anyone that whatever Jet or Airbourne claimed they could do, it all trickled back to Monster Magnet. The dynamic cynicism of the lyrics and the bordering-on-jam-band territory second half of the song prove that Monster Magnet is the real deal… in case you were wondering. The rolling ‘End Of Time’ is another highlight, driven by its riffs and drum fills. It’s just a non-stop barnburner that is, unfortunately, slightly crippled by its buried vocals.

‘Three Kingfishers’ is the album’s most psychedelic piece overall. It’s consistently a beast that would probably have been better suited in another decade alongside bands like Steppenwolf, Blue Öyster Cult and Iron Butterfly in their primes. Its acid-trip sitar and sparse acoustic work are perfectly suited to the 2am munchies crowd, but the grinding guitar work that follows gives it an epic, distant feel that forces you to love it but leaves you wondering what the hell it could possibly be about. It’s that weird.

Overall, this is one of Monster Magnet’s best. In the grand scheme of 2013, I don’t think it’ll be a top ten memory but it certainly puts the band back on the radar of those of us that love all kinds of great rock ’n’ roll. And that’s somewhere they haven’t been for a few years. Last Patrol breaks the band out of stoner rock hell in many ways, but in other ways it more fully embraces the style that the band helped bring into the mainstream so many years ago.

Mark Fisher

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