Monty Are I: “Break Through the Silence” on Island Records

3.5 out of 5 stars

On their sophomore record, Monty Are I  attempt to “Break Through the Silence” with their Island Records debut after remaining one of rock’s best kept secrets for many years and producing an exhilarating live show night after night. Their debut album, Wall of People, was full of magical mixes of a large amount of genres, from ska to hip-hop to post-hardcore to pop to classic rock. Conversely, some of these genre-mixes made the songs lose their integrity and solidity.  For examply, many songs had additions of piano lines and trumpet parts that could feel more like gimmicks than essential song pieces. In Monty’s return , the band has tightened up their sound in order to create solid slabs of guitar rock that only use the “gimmicks” when those additions will result in a more cohesive, smarter song. The results range from the single “One In a Million,” with its driving-guitar-approach, to “Sand Riders Doomsday,” which uses all of the resources at the band’s exposure, including their trademark double singer attack. The trade-off that occurs is even though the music is usually tighter and more powerful, the musical hooks have largely been watered down, if they haven’t disappeared altogether.  However unmemorable the tunes may be at times, the music is always quite fantastic, such as in the multiple tunes that, in a bewildering fashion, take advantage of Middle Eastern-sounding instruments and melodies.  As with most albums, the first half of the album plays better than the second, but nothing is bad here. The songs of the first half just all have an immediacy that works strongly to their advantage and… enjoyability.  But the album’s success all depends on singer Steve Aiello, whose melodies and performances shall either string a song together or tear it apart.  An unfortunate amount of songs don’t manage to hold up very well, but Aiello has plenty of talent to spread throughout most of the songs, especially when he embraces his pop tendencies (as in “Hope” and “Making Sounds”).  Whether or not every song sticks, the album earns a large amount of replay value because of the way it merges enjoyable tunes with dense layers of sounds and emotion.  Don’t miss out on discovering the secret of Monty Are I, but a newcomer may be better off buying the more impressionable debut Wall of People.